his
eyes, 'so I hear you have been enacting the part of Good Samaritan to
the widow Blake and her children. What do you think of the bewitching
widow and her Mary Queen of Scots beauty? Did she make an impression,
eh?'

'She is very handsome,' returned Audrey curtly; for she was not pleased
with her brother-in-law's quizzical tone.

How long had she stopped out with Michael? Barely ten minutes; and yet
Percival was in possession of the whole story.

'I shall be writing to Edith to-night, and I must tell her all about
it,' he went on, for if there was one thing in which he delighted, it
was teasing Audrey, and getting a rise out of her. In reality he was
very fond of her; he admired her simplicity and the grand earnestness of
her character; but he took the brotherly liberty of disagreeing with her
upon some things. He told his wife privately that his one desire was to
see Audrey married to the right man.

'She is a fine creature, but she wants training and keeping in order;
and I know the man who would just do for her,' he said once.

But though Geraldine implored him to say whom he meant, and mentioned a
dozen names in her womanly curiosity, Mr. Harcourt could not be induced
to say more. He was no matchmaker, he thanked Heaven; he would be
ashamed to meddle with such sacred mysteries. If there were one thing on
which no human opinion ought to rashly intrude, it was when two people
elected to enter the holy state of matrimony. It was enough that he knew
the man, though he never intended to take a step to bring them together.

'I think we had better drop the subject, as Mr. Blake will be here
directly,' retorted Audrey, in her most repressive tones. 'Father, do
you know you have forgotten to wind up the drawing-room clock? I think
it must be nearly seven.'

'It is past seven,' answered her brother-in-law, producing his watch.
'Mr. Blake is keeping the dinner waiting. No one but a very young man
would venture to commit such a solecism. Under the circumstances, it is
really a breach of good manners. Don't you agree with me, Dr. Ross?'

But Dr. Ross hesitated; he rarely agreed with such sweeping assertions.
Geraldine murmured 'Very true,' which her mother echoed.

'That is too bad!' exclaimed Audrey, who never could hold her tongue.
'If you had only seen the state of muddle they are in at the Gray
Cottage! I daresay Mr. Blake has been unable to find anything; his
mother does not seem a good manager. Hush! I hear a