"He made himself very agreeable," said Mrs. Derinzy shortly. She was alarmed at the account of these raptures on Annette's part, which boded no good to her favourite project. "If she were a responsible being, I should say she was in love," said Mrs. Stothard. "Not that anyone is responsible, under those circumstances," she added: a dim remembrance of a cathedral yard, a pile of illuminated drawings, and a cornet in the cavalry, seen through a long vista of intervening years, gave her voice a flat and hollow sound. "In love! stuff! She sees so few new faces that she's amused for the time, that's all. She will have forgotten the man by this morning." "She _hasn't_ forgotten him, though you do say 'stuff!' She had a very restless night, tossing and talking in her sleep and laughing to herself. And this morning, directly she woke, she asked me if George Wainwright was still here; and when I told her yes, laughed and kissed my cheek, and fell asleep again quite satisfied." "_George_ Wainwright, eh?" said Mrs. Derinzy. "She has lost no time in picking up his name." "She loses no time in picking up anything that interests her. And this Mr. George Wainwright is clever, you say?" "Very clever, so Paul says; and so he seems." "And he has come down here on a visit, just to see Mr. Paul?" "Exactly. Mr. Paul thinks there is nobody like him, and consults him in everything." "And yet, knowing this," said Mrs. Stothard, drawing nearer and dropping her voice, "you have this man here, and don't seem to see any danger in his coming." "What do you mean, Martha? I don't comprehend you," said Mrs. Derinzy, showing in her pallid cheeks and wandering hands how she had been taken aback by the suddenness of the question. "Oh yes, you understand me perfectly, and as you have only chosen to give me half-confidences, I can't speak any plainer. But this I will say, that if you still wish to throw dust in your son's eyes as regards what is the matter with Annette, you have acted with extraordinary folly in permitting this man to come down here. He is no shallow flimsy youth like Mr. Paul--you will excuse my speaking out; it is necessary in such matters--but a clever, shrewd, long-headed man of the world, and one, above all, who is constantly brought into contact with cases such as Annette's. He will see what is the matter with her in the course of the next interview they have, even if he has not discovered it at once, or at all events the first time she has an attack, and--he will tell his friend." "They must be kept apart; he must not see her any more." "Pshaw! that would excite suspicion--his, Paul's, every one's. No; we must think it out quietly, and see what can be done for the best. Meantime, Annette's state is greatly in our favour. She is wonderfully good-tempered and docile, and if she does not get too much excited, we may yet pass it off all well."