“If she’s going, I hope she’ll go before Dr. Richards sees her, though perhaps he knows her already—­his mother lives in Snowdon,” ’Lina thought, and rather abruptly she asked if Alice knew Dr. Richards, who was staying at the Union.

Alice blushed crimson as she replied: 

“Yes, I know him very well and his family, too.  Are either of his sisters with him?”

“His mother is here,” ’Lina replied, “and I like her so much.  She is very familiar and friendly; don’t you think so?”

Alice would not tell a lie, and she answered frankly: 

“She does not bear that name in Snowdon.  They consider her very haughty there.  I think you must be a favorite.”

“Are they very aristocratic and wealthy?” ’Lina asked, and Alice answered: 

“Aristocratic, not wealthy.  They were very kind to me, and the doctor’s sister, Anna, is one of the sweetest ladies I ever knew.  She may possibly be here during the summer.  She is an invalid, and has been for years.”

Suddenly Ellen Tiffton’s story of the ambrotype flashed into ’Lina’s mind.  Alice might know something of it, and after a little she asked if the doctor had not at one time been engaged.

Alice did not know.  It was very possible.  Why did Miss Worthington ask the question?

’Lina did not stop to consider the propriety or impropriety of making so free with a stranger, and unhesitatingly repeated what Ellen Tiffton had told her of the ambrotype.  This, of course, compelled her to speak of Adah, who, she said, came to them under very suspicious circumstances, and was cared for by her eccentric brother, Hugh.

In spite of the look of entreaty visible on Mrs. Worthington’s face, ’Lina said: 

“To be candid with you, Miss Johnson, I’m afraid you won’t like Hugh.  He has many good traits, but I am sorry to say we have never succeeded in cultivating him one particle, so that he is very rough and boorish in his manner, and will undoubtedly strike you unfavorably.  I may as well tell you this, as you will probably hear it from Ellen Tiffton, and must know it when you see him.  He is not popular with the ladies; he hates them all, he says.  Mother, Loo-loo, come,” and breaking off from her very sisterly remarks concerning Hugh, ’Lina sprang up in terror as a large beetle, attracted by the light, fastened itself upon her hair.

Mrs. Worthington was the first to the rescue, while Lulu, who had listened with flashing eye when Hugh was the subject of remark, came laggardly, whispering slyly to Alice: 

“That’s a lie she done tell you about Mas’r Hugh.  He ain’t rough, nor bad, and we blacks would die for him any day.”

Alice was confounded at this flat contradiction between mistress and servant, while a faint glimmer of the truth began to dawn upon her.  The “horn-bug” being disposed of, ’Lina became quiet, and might, perhaps, have taken up Hugh again, but for a timely interruption in the shape of Irving Stanley, who had walked up to the Columbian, and seeing ’Lina and her mother through the window, sauntered leisurely into the parlor.