rival,
and her own discontent at his influence with her cousin. Would that
she had spoken a word of warning; yet that might have been merely
mischievous, for the subject was surely too delicate for Rachel to
broach with so recent a friend. But Rachel had bad taste for anything!
That the little boys did not find Miss Williams very cross that day was
an effect of the long habit of self-control, and she could hardly sit
still under the additional fret, when, just as tea was spread for the
school-room party, in walked Miss Rachel, and sat herself down, in spite
of Hubert, who made up a most coaxing, entreating face, as he said,
"Please, Aunt Rachel, doesn't Aunt Grace want you very much!"

"Not at all. Why, Hubert?"

"Oh, if you would only go away, and not spoil our fun when the Major
comes."

For once Rachel did laugh, but she did not take the hint, and Alison
obtained only the satisfaction of hearing that she had at least not been
in Mackarel Lane. The wheels sounded on the gravel, out rushed the boys;
Alison and Rachel sat in strange, absolute silence, each forgetful
of the other, neither guarding her own looks, nor remarking her
companion's. Alison's lips were parted by intense listening; Rachel's
teeth were set to receive her enemy. There was a chorus of voices in
the hall, and something about tea and coming in warned both to gather up
their looks before Lady Temple had opened the door, and brought in upon
them not one foe, but two! Was Rachel seeing double? Hardly that, for
one was tall, bald, and bearded, not dangerously young, but on that very
account the more dangerously good-looking; and the other was almost a
boy, slim and light, just of the empty young officer type. Here, too,
was Fanny, flushed, excited, prettier and brighter than Rachel had seen
her at all, waving an introduction with head and hand; and the boys
hanging round the Major with deafening exclamations of welcome, in which
they were speedily joined by the nursery detachment. Those greetings,
those observations on growth and looks, those glad, eager questions and
answers, were like the welcome of an integral part of the family; it was
far more intimate and familiar than had been possible with the Curtises
after the long separation, and it was enough to have made the two
spectators feel out of place, if such a sensation had been within
Rachel's capacity, or if Alison had not been engaged with the tea. Lady
Temple made a few explanations, sotto voce