, saying that
her mother was just an angel, and her father very nice when you got used
to him. As I had never been intimate with angels, and hardly expected to
be there long enough to get used to an old man's peculiarities, I still
trembled.

[Illustration: "I WALKED IN TO DINNER ON SIR ALEXANDER'S ARM."]

We had reached the porch. The pompous footman got down and executed a
fantasia with elaborate "froisture" upon the knocker. The butler, who
must have been waiting in the hall in a stunned condition till the
performance was over, flung open the door, and I entered Strathnasheen
House. The pompous one clung to my bag as a dainty trifle he could
carry without loss of dignity. The butler stood motionless, content with
"existing beautifully," the more so as a second footman, with powdered
hair, plush breeches, and unimpeachable calves, rushed forward to our
assistance. He was such a magnificent and unexpected apparition that I
gazed in wonder, and eventually in horror.

[Illustration: THE NEW FOOTMAN SPILT THE GRAVY OVER MY WHITE SILK
DRESS.]

It was my travelling companion of the day before!

I never knew how I got through the dreaded introduction to Sir Alexander
and Lady Sutherland. I have a faint recollection of going up to a tall
old man in spectacles, and answering his polite inquiries in a dazed,
bewildered way. I recollect, also, that Lady Sutherland made an
impression of softness and warmth, and that she said something about
"changing my feet," which I looked upon as a mysterious and
uncomplimentary suggestion.

Then Mysie carried me off to show me my room. There was a blazing fire,
which was very inviting, and I was glad to plead fatigue and sit down
till dinner.

Tired I certainly was, but that was nothing to my mental condition. My
hero a footman! What would Lucy say to me? And Dick? Well, they always
said I had low tastes, and they turned out to be right.

Then I tried to persuade myself that I had been mistaken--that this was
another man; but I soon gave that up, for I knew all the while it was a
mere subterfuge. I had recognised him at once--his eyes alone were
sufficient; but, in fact, I knew all his features perfectly. Had I not
sat opposite them all day in the railway carriage, and thought of them
half the night, as I tossed upon Aunt Maria's hard, uncomfortable bed? I
grew hot from head to foot as I remembered it.

It is all very well to say class distinctions are rubbish and that all
men are