I shall not be accessible before the evening. If
you will come here--with papa's permission--after tea, my views on the
subject of Falkland will be at your disposal. Thomas! whatever else
the gardener does, he is not to make any floricultural noises under my
window. For the rest of the afternoon I shall be immersed in study--and
the quieter the house is, the more obliged I shall feel to everybody."
Before Miss Garth's battery of reproof could open fire, before the first
outburst of Mr. Vanstone's hearty laughter could escape his lips, she
bowed to them with imperturbable gravity; ascended the house-steps, for
the first time in her life, at a walk instead of a run, and retired then
and there to the bedroom regions. Frank's helpless astonishment at her
disappearance added a new element of absurdity to the scene. He stood
first on one leg and then on the other; rolling and unrolling his part,
and looking piteously in the faces of the friends about him. "I know
I can't do it," he said. "May I come in after tea, and hear Magdalen's
views? Thank you--I'll look in about eight. Don't tell my father about
this acting, please; I should never hear the last of it.
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