What pretty earnest eyes Maude had, and shining hair, and delicate "bred"-looking hands! She certainly was wonderfully nice, and if, as Benthall avowed, she really eared for him, he---- Who was this coming to break in on his pleasant day-dream? Oh, Gertrude. "I was wondering where you were, Mr. Joyce! You said you wanted your holiday, and you seem to be passing it in slumber!" "Nothing so commonplace, Mrs. Benthall." "One moment, why do you call me Mrs. Benthall? What has made you so formal and ridiculous all of a sudden? You used to call me Gertrude, in London?" "Yes, but then you were an unmarried girl; now you are a wedded woman, and there's a certain amount of respect due to matronhood." "What nonsense! Do call me Gertrude again, please; Mrs. Benthall sounds so horrid! I should like the boarders here in the house to call me Gertrude, only George says it wouldn't be proper! And so you weren't asleep?" "Not the least bit! Although I'm ready to allow I was dreaming." "Dreaming!--what about?" "About the old days which I spent in this place--and their association!" "Oh yes, I know--I mean to say----" "No, no, Gertrude, say what you had on your lips, then! No prevarication, and no hesitation--what was it?" "No, really, nothing--it is only----" "I insist!" "Well, what I mean to say is--of course, people will talk in a village, you know--and we've heard about your engagement, you know, and how it was broken off, and how badly you were treated, and--oh, how silly I was to say a word about it! I'm sure George would be horribly cross if he knew!" "And did you imagine I was grizzling over my past, cursing the day when I first saw the faithless fair, and indulging in other poetic rhapsodies! My dear Gertrude, it's not a pleasant thing being jilted; but one lives to get over it and forget all about it, even to forgive her whom I believe it is correct to call the false one!" "Yes, I dare say! In fact, George and Maude both said you didn't think anything about it now, and----" "Maude! did she know of it too?" "Oh yes, we all knew of it! The old woman who had been housekeeper, or cook, or something here in the old Ashurst's time, told George, and----" "What did Maude say about it?" interrupted Joyce. "She said--I forget what! No! I recollect she said that--that Mrs. Creswell was just the sort of woman that would fail to appreciate you!" "That may be taken in two senses--as a compliment or otherwise," said Joyce, laughing. "I'm sure Maude means it nicely," said Gertrude earnestly. Then added, "By the way, I wanted to talk to you about Maude, Mr. Joyce." "About Maude!" said Walter. Then thought to himself, "Is it possible that the seeds of match-making are already developing themselves in this three months' old matron?"