"Will you let me speak, child?" cried Lady Millet angrily. "I don't know what you girls are thinking about! Why, you are as bad as Renee! If I had not been firm, she would have certainly accepted him, and he is a man of most expensive habits. It was most absurd of Renee. But there: that's over. But I do rather wonder at Frank making so much of a friend of him. Oh dear me, no, Gertrude! that would be impossible!" "Of course, mamma!" "Then why did you talk in that tone?" "Because I don't like Major Malpas, and I am sure Renee does not, either." "Of course she does not. She is a married lady. Surely she can be civil to people without always thinking of liking! It was a curious chance that Richard should be gazetted into the same regiment; and under the circumstances I have been bound to invite him and that other officer, Captain Glen, here, for they can help your brother, no doubt, a great deal. You see, I have to think of everything, for your poor father only thinks now of his dinners and his clubs." Gertrude sighed and went on with her work, while Lady Millet yawned, got up, looked out of the window, and came back. "Quite time the carriage was round. Then I am to go alone?" "I promised Renee to be in this morning," said Gertrude quietly. "Ah, well; then I suppose you must stop. I wonder whether Lady Littletown will take any notice of Richard now he is at Hampton Court?" "I should think she would, mamma. She is always most friendly." "Friendly, but not trustworthy, my dear. A terribly scheming woman, Gertrude. Her sole idea seems to be match-making. But, there, Richard is too young to become her prey!" Gertrude's brow wrinkled, and she looked wonderingly at her mother, whose face was averted. "I have been looking up the Glens. Not a bad family, but a younger branch. I suppose Richard will accompany his brother officer here one of these days. By the way, my dear, Lord Henry Moorpark seemed rather attentive to you at the Lindleys the other night." "Yes, mamma," said Gertrude quietly; "he took me in to supper, and sat and chatted with me a long time." "Yes; I noticed that he did." "I like Lord Henry, mamma; he is so kind and gentle and courteous." "Very, my dear." "One always feels as if one could confide in him--he is so fatherly, and--" "My dear Gertrude!" "What have I said, mamma?" "Something absurd. Fatherly! What nonsense! Lord Henry is in the prime of life, and you must not talk like that. You girls are so foolish! You think of no one but boys with pink and white faces and nothing to say for themselves. Lord Henry Moorpark is a most _distingue_ gentle--I mean a nobleman; and judging from the attentions he began to pay you the other night, I--" "Oh, mamma! surely you cannot think that?"