Still clinging to the reluctant Hardy she walked up the path; farther back in the darkness of the room the unfortunate young gentleman saw the faces of Dr. Murchison and Mrs. Kingdom.

“And ’ow are you, Bella?” inquired Mrs. Kybird with kindly condescension.  “Is Mrs. Kingdom at ’ome?”

She pushed her way past the astonished Bella and, followed by Mr. Hardy, entered the room.  Mrs. Kingdom, with a red spot on each cheek, rose to receive them.

“I ought to ’ave come before,” said Mrs. Kybird, subsiding thankfully into a chair, “but I’m such a bad walker.  I ’ope I see you well.”

“We are very well, thank you,” said Mrs. Kingdom, stiffly.

“That’s right,” said her visitor, cordially; “what a blessing ’ealth is.  What should we do without it, I wonder?”

She leaned back in her chair and shook her head at the prospect.  There was an awkward lull, and in the offended gaze of Miss Nugent Mr. Hardy saw only too plainly that he was held responsible for the appearance of the unwelcome visitor.

“I was coming to see you,” he said, leaving his chair and taking one near her, “I met your brother coming along, and he introduced me to Mrs. Kybird and her daughter and suggested we should come together.”

Miss Nugent received the information with a civil bow, and renewed her conversation with Dr. Murchison, whose face showed such a keen appreciation of the situation that Hardy had some difficulty in masking his feelings.

“They’re a long time a-coming,” said Mrs. Kybird, smiling archly; “but there, when young people are keeping company they forget everything and everybody.  They didn’t trouble about me; if it ’adn’t been for Mr.  ’Ardy giving me ’is arm I should never ’ave got here.”

There was a prolonged silence.  Dr. Murchison gave a whimsical glance at Miss Nugent, and meeting no response in that lady’s indignant eyes, stroked his moustache and awaited events.

“It looks as though your brother is not coming,” said Hardy to Miss Nugent.

“He’ll turn up by-and-by,” interposed Mrs. Kybird, looking somewhat morosely at the company.  “They don’t notice ’ow the time flies, that’s all.”

“Time does go,” murmured Mrs. Kingdom, with a glance at the clock.

Mrs. Kybird started.  “Ah, and we notice it too, ma’am, at our age,” she said, sweetly, as she settled herself in her chair and clasped her hands in her lap “I can’t ’elp looking at you, my dear,” she continued, looking over at Miss Nugent.  “There’s such a wonderful likeness between Jack and you.  Don’t you think so, ma’am?”

Mrs. Kingdom in a freezing voice said that she had not noticed it.

“Of course,” said Mrs. Kybird, glancing at her from the corner of her eye, “Jack has ’ad to rough it, pore feller, and that’s left its mark on ’im.  I’m sure, when we took ’im in, he was quite done up, so to speak.  He’d only got what ’e stood up in, and the only pair of socks he’d got to his feet was in such a state of ’oles that they had to be throwed away.  I throwed ’em away myself.”