‘She does not like to leave you, Mr Prothero,’ she said gently.

’I don’t want to turn the girl out of the house.  But if Miss Gwynne wants her, I think it is better for all parties for her to go.’

‘If you please—­certainly,’ said Gladys, recovering herself with an effort.  ’I would much rather go to Miss Gwynne in any capacity, and if I can be of use—­it is best, my dear mistress.’

‘Then go you, Gladys, and stop crying,’ said Mr Prothero.  ’Why, your eyes’ll be as red as ferrets when the gentleman comes, and he’ll think we’ve been giving you an appetite by making you cry.  I was near forgetting, Miss Hall, that we left a strange gentleman at the Park gate, who said he was going to call on you; he’s going to take a bed here, because there’s no inn nearer than the “Coach and Horses."’

‘Who can that be?’ said Miss Hall.

‘We had better make haste home, or we shall miss him,’ said Freda.

‘Good-bye, Mrs Prothero; I will come again and settle about Gladys.’

It was nearly dusk when the ladies left the farm, and they walked very fast.  They had not gone far when they saw some one on horseback coming towards them.

’I daresay this is your friend, and that stupid Morgan hasn’t let him in,’ said Freda.

‘It cannot be; I do not know this gentleman at all,’ said Miss Hall, as the stranger advanced.

He looked at them, and they looked at him; but as there was no symptom of recognition on either side, they passed without speaking.

‘I hope we shall have a good night’s rest, now that Gladys is found,’ said Miss Gwynne.  ’What is there in the girl that interests one so much?  Even Mr Prothero, in spite of his son, was glad to find her, and to have her at the farm again.  Colonel Vaughan admires her very much.’

‘I hope not too much,’ said Miss Hall quietly.

‘What an absurd idea!’ said Miss Gwynne, colouring from beneath her broad hat.  ’He is a man that admires beauty and talent, wherever it is to be found.  I do like that sort of person; free from vulgar prejudice.’

’Not quite, I think, my dearest Freda.  He is not so easily read, perhaps, as you in your straightforward nature fancy.’

‘If he isn’t prejudiced, you are, at any rate,’ said Freda.

When they reached the house, Freda went into the drawing-room first, and Miss Hall heard her exclaiming, as she rushed out of it with a card in her hand,—­

’Serena!  Nita! only think!  Mr Jones, Melbourne, South Australia!  Hurrah!  I never thought I should be so glad to see a card bearing that name.  Morgan! why didn’t you ask the gentleman who called on Miss Hall to come in and wait?’

‘I did not know, ma’am,’ said the man who was at the door.  ’My master does not always like strangers, and I did not know the gentleman.’

Miss Hall had vanished upstairs during this little interlude with Morgan, so Freda did not see the agitation of her manner when she took the card and read the name.  Freda went straight into the library, where she found her father half asleep over a letter.