‘Yes; I’ve four gentlemen. You’d wonder where we find room to put them all, but the house is more capacious’ (Sebastian conjectured that she meant spacious) ‘than it looks, and we’ve room for them all. Very nice gentlemen they are too; all in business in Manchester, you know. They’re quiet and well-behaved, and they pay up regularly; and,’ she added, dropping her voice, ‘none of your stand-off gents. They are all disposed to be most friendly, all except Mr. Harrison, and he’s engaged to his cousin, who lives in Northumberland. He hears from her regularly twice a week.’ ‘Yes,’ said Sebastian, with an air of the deepest interest--the air of one thirsting for more information. ‘But all the others, Mr. Finlay, and Mr. Smithson, and Mr. Jenkins--are most friendly, and quite gentlemen, every one of them. Indeed, Mr. Jenkins,’ she dropped her voice again, ‘is very much interested in Helena.’ ‘Is he?’ said Sebastian, still with unfeigned interest. ‘Yes, he is. He’s getting on, too. And a perfect gentleman--on Sundays’--Sebastian leaned eagerly forward--‘on Sundays they often go out into the country for the day, or sometimes even for the week-end; but Mr. Jenkins, never,’ said Mrs. Spenceley, emphatically: ‘Mr. Jenkins dines with _us_.’ ‘_Poor_ Helena!’ thought Sebastian, while he said, ‘Oh, indeed!’ ‘Helena said I oughtn’t to have entered into such an arrangement; but I think she’s mistaken, and I think she’ll come to see her mistake in time.’ ‘Miss Spenceley does not feel so much interest in Mr. Jenkins, perhaps, as he feels in her!’ ‘That I can’t say; but if she does, she conceals it, which is but natural after all.’ ‘Quite natural in such a case,’ assented Sebastian. ‘Here’s the tea-things,’ continued Mrs. Spenceley, cheerfully, producing a bunch of keys, and going to a cupboard, whence she drew forth, to speak metaphorically, flagons wherewith to stay her guest, and apples for his comfort--in the dry language of reality, a jar of apple-jelly, and a glass dish containing conserves of a deeper, more sanguinary hue. While Mrs. Spenceley was half-buried in the depths of the cupboard, Helena came into the room again. She had changed her dress, and attired herself in another relic of splendour, a black silk dress, rich and handsome, if somewhat old-fashioned; and she had tied an orange-coloured ribbon round her neck, and put on a little lace frill, and Sebastian felt that she looked lovely, and began to hate those three gentlemen who were disposed to be so very friendly, with a deadly hatred. Her eyes fell upon the figure of her mother, half in and half out of the cupboard. It was a very funny sight, and when she turned to Sebastian there was a broad smile of amusement upon her face. It looked as if it was the first that had been there for a very long time, and Sebastian felt it only right to smile as genially in return.