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question. 'Will you excuse me?' he observed the next moment, rather hurriedly; 'I think Mrs. Charrington is waiting for me--she asked me to go to the school-house to tea.' And as he left her, Audrey found herself obliged to join her sister and Mrs. Harcourt. 'Have you many people coming to you to-morrow afternoon?' asked Geraldine, as they walked on together. 'Only the Luptons and Fortescues and Mr. Owen and Herr Schaffmann--oh, and--I forgot, father asked Mr. Blake.' Audrey spoke a little absently. They were passing the Gray Cottage--a blind was just then raised in one of the lower rooms, and a small pale face peeped eagerly out at the passers-by. Audrey smiled and waved her hand in a friendly manner, and a bright answering smile lighted up the girlish face. 'What an untidy-looking child!' remarked Geraldine carelessly; 'is that your _protegee_?' and then she continued, in a reproving tone: 'It is really disgraceful that none of the family were in chapel. Edith was right when she spoke of Mrs. Blake's mismanagement of her children; that poor girl had a most neglected look.' Audrey did not answer; she thought it wiser to allow her sister's remark to pass unchallenged; she had a shrewd suspicion why Mollie was not in chapel--the shabby, outgrown frock had probably kept her at home. 'Poor little thing!' she thought, with a fresh access of pity, for Mollie had certainly looked very forlorn. And then she turned her attention with some difficulty to what Geraldine was saying. Dr. Ross was famed for his hospitality, and both he and his wife loved to gather the young people of Rutherford about them. On Monday afternoons during the summer there was always tennis on the Woodcote lawn; one or two of the families from the Hill houses, and perhaps a bachelor master or two, made up a couple of sets. The elder ladies liked to watch the game or to stroll about the beautiful grounds. Mrs. Ross was an excellent hostess; she loved to prepare little surprises for her guests--iced drinks or strawberries and cream. Geraldine generally presided at her mother's tea-table; Audrey would be among the players. Tennis-parties and garden-parties of all kinds were common enough in Rutherford, but those at Woodcote certainly carried off the palm. Mr. Harcourt had always been considered one of the best players, but on the Monday in question he found himself ranged against no mean antagonist, and he was obliged to own that you
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