’My dear girl, I have known it from the very beginning.  There is nothing in the world more transparent than your thoughts about Angus Egerton have been to me.’

‘O Mary, how could you!  And I have been so careful to say nothing!’ she cried reproachfully.  ’But he loves me, dear.  He has loved me for a long time, he says; and he has asked me to be his wife.’

’What, after all those protestations about never asking a woman to share his poverty?’

’Yes, Mary; and he meant what he said.  He told me that if I had been a penniless girl, he should have proposed to me ever so long ago.  And he is to see papa to-morrow.’

’Do you think Mr. Darrell will ever consent to such a marriage, Milly?’ I asked gravely.

’Why should he not?  He cannot go on thinking badly of Angus when every one else thinks so well of him.  You must have seen how he has softened towards him since they met.  Mr. Egerton’s old family and position are quite an equivalent for my money, whatever that may be.  O Mary, I don’t think papa can refuse his consent.’

’I am rather doubtful about that, Milly.  It’s one thing to like Mr. Egerton very well as a visitor—­quite another to accept him as a son-in-law.  Frankly, my dearest, I fear your father will be against the match.’

‘Mary,’ cried Milly reproachfully, ’I can see what it is—­you are prejudiced against Mr. Egerton.’

’I am only anxious for your welfare, darling.  I like Mr. Egerton very much.  It is difficult for any one to avoid liking him.  But I confess that I cannot bring myself to put entire trust in him.’

‘Why not?’

I did not like to tell her the chief reason for my distrust—­that mysterious relation between Angus Egerton and Mrs. Darrell.  The subject was a serious—­almost a dangerous—­one; and I had no positive evidence to bring forward in proof of my fancy.  It was a question of looks and words that had been full of significance to me, but which might seem to Milly to mean very little.

’We cannot help our instinctive doubts, dear.  But if you can trust Mr. Egerton, and if your father can trust him, my fancies can matter very little.  I cannot stand between you and your love, dear—­I know that.’

‘But you can make me very unhappy by your doubts, Mary,’ she answered.

I kissed her, and did my best to console her; but she was not easily to be comforted, and left me in a half-sorrowful, half-angry mood.  I had disappointed her, she told me—­she had felt so sure of my sympathy; and instead of sharing her happiness, I had made her miserable by my fanciful doubts and gloomy forebodings.  After she had gone, I sat by the window for a long time, thinking of her disconsolately, and feeling myself very guilty.  But I had a fixed conviction that Mr. Darrell would refuse to receive Angus Egerton as his daughter’s suitor, and that the course of this love-affair was not destined to be a smooth one.