tell me--"

"What?" asked Flora, not inclined to spare her blushes.

"Whether, whether you meant anything in earnest?"

"My dear little goose, did no one ever make an innocent joke in their
lives before?"

"It was very silly of me," said Meta; "but you gave me a terrible
fright."

"Was it so very terrible, poor little bird?" said Flora, in
commiseration. "Well then, you may safely think of him as a man tame
about the house. It was much prettier of you not to appropriate the
flowers, as any other damsel would have done."

"Do you really and truly think--" began Meta; but, from the colour of
her cheek and the timid resolution of her tone, Flora thought it safest
not to hear the interrogation, and answered, "I know what he comes here
for--it is only as a refuge from his mother's friend, old Lady Drummond,
who would give the world to catch him for her daughters--that's all. Put
my nonsense out of your head, and be yourself, my sweet one."

Flora had never gone so near an untruth, as when she led Meta to believe
this was the sole reason. But, after all, what did Flora herself know to
the contrary?

Meta recovered her ease, and Flora marked, as weeks passed on, that she
grew more accustomed to Sir Henry's attentions. A little while, and she
would find herself so far bound by the encouragement she had given, that
she could not reject him.

"My dear," said George, "when do you think of going down to take the
baby to the Grange? She looks dull, I think."

"Really, I think it is hardly worth while to go down en masse," said
Flora. "These last debates may be important, and it is a bad time to
quit one's post. Don't you think so?"

"As you please--the train is a great bore."

"And we will send the baby down the last day before we go to Ryde, with
Preston and Butts to take care of her. We can't spare him to take them
down, till we shut up the house. It is so much easier for us to go to
Portsmouth from hence."

The lurking conviction was that one confidential talk with Ethel
would cause the humming-bird to break the toils that were being wound
invisibly round her. Ethel and her father knew nothing of the world, and
were so unreasonable in their requirements! Meta would consult them
all, and all her scruples would awaken, and perhaps Dr. Spencer might
be interrogated on Sir Henry's life abroad, where Flora had a suspicion
that gossip had best not be raked up.

Not that she concealed anything positively known to her,