the whole house that day. Milly and Kate felt it whenever they came in contact with her, and many conjectures they held privately of what might have taken place the night before, but one thing was certain Kate said, "he did her a mighty deal o' good anyhow," and became quite reconciled to the possibility which Milly had suggested, "that if he really loved her he would have her yet," though it did not quite square with her ideas of what a young man should do when a young lady "cut up such a shine with him." She really liked Rosalind better than she was willing to acknowledge, but Ernest was her ideal of perfection and she could not tolerate any breach of courtesy towards him from any source.
Walter had just entered the drawing room after his return that evening, when Ernest was ushered in. He met him with shouts of welcome, exclaiming, "I did not know you had come; did you know it Rosa?" She was silent. Not all the powers of the universe could have induced her to answer the question at that moment.
"Yes," said Ernest, "Rosa knew I had come, and it shows she can keep a secret," taking her hand in his as he seated himself beside her on the sofa. Walter looked puzzled.
"I did not know but you had cut our acquaintance as you did not write to Walter," said Mrs. Claremont, ironically, to which Walter quickly replied by way of turning the conversation, "A bad penny soon returns, so I had no fear we should not see you again."
