It was, perhaps, fortunate for the general peace that just at this moment Mr. Gibson was announced.  It is odd enough to see how the entrance of a person of the opposite sex into an assemblage of either men or women calms down the little discordances and the disturbance of mood.  It was the case now; at Mr. Gibson’s entrance my lady took off her glasses, and smoothed her brow; Mrs. Kirkpatrick managed to get up a very becoming blush, and as for Molly, her face glowed with delight, and the white teeth and pretty dimples came out like sunlight on a landscape.

Of course, after the first greeting, my lady had to have a private interview with her doctor; and Molly and her future stepmother wandered about in the gardens with their arms round each other’s waists, or hand in hand, like the babes in the wood; Mrs. Kirkpatrick active in such endearments, Molly passive, and feeling within herself very shy and strange; for she had that particular kind of shy modesty which makes any one uncomfortable at receiving caresses from a person towards whom the heart does not go forth with an impulsive welcome.

Then came the early dinner; Lady Cumnor having hers in the quiet of her own room, to which she was still a prisoner.  Once or twice during the meal, the idea crossed Molly’s mind that her father disliked his position as a middle-aged lover being made so evident to the men in waiting as it was by Mrs. Kirkpatrick’s affectionate speeches and innuendos.  He tried to banish every tint of pink sentimentalism from the conversation, and to confine it to matter of fact; and when Mrs. Kirkpatrick would persevere in dwelling upon such facts as had a bearing upon the future relationship of the parties, he insisted upon viewing them in the most matter-of-fact way; and this continued even after the men had left the room.  An old rhyme Molly had heard Betty use, would keep running in her head and making her uneasy,—­

    ’Two is company,
     Three is trumpery.’

But where could she go to in that strange house?  What ought she to do?  She was roused from this fit of wonder and abstraction by her father’s saying,—­’What do you think of this plan of Lady Cumnor’s?  She says she was advising you to have Molly as a visitor at Ashcombe until we are married.’

Mrs. Kirkpatrick’s countenance fell.  If only Molly would be so good as to testify again, as she had done before Lady Cumnor!  But if the proposal was made by her father, it would come to his daughter from a different quarter than it had done from a strange lady, be she ever so great.  Molly did not say anything; she only looked pale, and wistful, and anxious.  Mrs. Kirkpatrick had to speak for herself.

’It would be a charming plan, only—­Well! we know why we would rather not have it, don’t we, love?  And we won’t tell papa, for fear of making him vain.  No!  I think I must leave her with you, dear Mr Gibson, to have you all to herself for these last few weeks.  It would be cruel to take her away.’