not lost on
Rufus. He registered it, mentally, in case of need. "Amelius will soon
get over all that nonsense," she said, "when he has been a little longer
in London."

"Possible," Rufus admitted. "The boy is fond of you. Yes: he loves you.
I have noticed him, and I can certify to that. I may also remark that he
wants a deal of love in return. No doubt, miss, you have observed that
circumstance yourself?"

Regina resented this last inquiry as an outrage on propriety. "What next
will he say?" she thought to herself. "I must put this presuming man in
his proper place." She darted another annihilating look at him, as she
spoke in her turn. "May I ask, Mr.--Mr.----?"

"Dingwell," said Rufus, prompting her.

"May I ask, Mr. Dingwell, if you have favoured me by calling here at the
request of Mr. Goldenheart?"

Genial and simple-minded as he was, eagerly as he desired to appreciate
at her full value the young lady who was one day to be the wife of
Amelius, Rufus felt the tone in which those words were spoken. It was
not easy to stimulate his modest sense of what was fairly due to him
into asserting itself, but the cold distrust, the deliberate distance
of Regina's manner, exhausted the long-suffering indulgence of this
singularly patient man. "The Lord, in his mercy, preserve Amelius from
marrying You," he thought, as he rose from his chair, and advanced with
a certain simple dignity to take leave of her.

"It did not occur to me, miss, to pay my respects to you, till Amelius
and I had parted company," he said. "Please to excuse me. I should have
been welcome, in my country, with no better introduction than being (as
I may say) his friend and well-wisher. If I have made a mistake--"

He stopped. Regina had suddenly changed colour. Instead of looking at
him, she was looking over his shoulder, apparently at something behind
him. He turned to see what it was. A lady, short and stout, with strange
wild sorrowful eyes, had noiselessly entered the room while he was
speaking: she was waiting, as it seemed, until he had finished what he
had to say. When they confronted each other, she moved to meet him, with
a firm heavy step, and with her hand held out in token of welcome.

"You may feel equally sure, sir, of a friendly reception here," she
said, in her steady self-possessed way. "I am this young lady's aunt;
and I am glad to see the friend of Amelius in my house." Before Rufus
could answer, she turned to Regina. "I waited,