ll I can say is that Mrs. Bickerton has too many children, and the
children have too many ailments for her ever to dine out.'

'That will do; I see the existence,' said Langham with a shrug. 'But he
has the look of an apostle, though a rather hunted one. Probably nobody
here, except Robert, is fit to tie his shoes.'

The Squire could hardly be called _empresse_,' said Rose, after a
second, with a curl of her red lips. Mr. Wynnstay was still safely
engaged with Mrs. Darcy, and there was a buzz of talk largely sustained
by Lady Charlotte.

'No,' Langham admitted; 'the manners I thought were not quite equal to
the house.'

'What possible reason could he have for treating Robert with those
airs?' said Rose indignantly, ready enough, in girl fashion, to defend
her belongings against the outer world. 'He ought to be only too glad to
have the opportunity of knowing him and making friends with him.'

'You are a sister worth having;' and Langham smiled at her as she leant
back in her chair, her white arms and wrists lying on her lap, and her
slightly flushed face turned toward him. They had been on these pleasant
terms of _camaraderie_ all day, and the intimacy between them had been
still making strides.

'Do you imagine I don't appreciate Robert because I make bad jokes about
the choir and the clothing club?' she asked him, with a little quick
repentance passing like a shadow through her eyes. 'I always feel I play
an odious part here. I can't like it--I can't--their life. I should hate
it! And yet--'

She sighed remorsefully and Langham, who five minutes before could have
wished her to be always smiling, could now have almost asked to fix
her as she was: the eyes veiled, the soft lips relaxed in this passing
instant of gravity.

'Ah! I forgot--' and she looked up again with light, bewitching
appeal--'there is still that question, my poor little question of Sunday
night, when I was in that fine moral frame of mind and you were near
giving me, I believe, the only good advice you ever gave in your
life;--how shamefully you have treated it!'

One brilliant look, which Catherine for her torment caught from the
other side of the table, and then in an instant the quick face changed
and stiffened. Mr. Wynnstay was speaking to her, and Langham was left
to the intermittent mercies of Dr. Meyrick, who though glad to talk, was
also quite content, apparently, to judge from the radiant placidity of
his look, to examine his wine,