went on like this for a minute and a half, falling over her words, and blushing; and finally the parlourmaid got the message and went off. She was gone a quarter of an hour. When she came back, she had Gentleman with her.
He stepped into the room, and did not look at me at first. His eyes were all for Maud. He said,
''Miss Lilly, you are kind to receive me here, all travel-stained and tumbled as I am. That is like you!''
His voice was gentle. As for the stains—well, there wasn''t a mark upon him, I guessed he had gone quickly to his room and changed his coat. His hair was sleek and his whiskers tidy; he wore one modest little ring on his smallest finger, but apart from that his hands were bare and very clean.
He looked what he was meant to be—a handsome, nice-minded gentleman. When he turned to me at last, I found myself making him a curtsey and was almost shy.
And here is Susan Smith!'' he said, looking me over in my velvet, his lip twitching towards a smile. ''But I should have supposed her a lady, I am sure!'' He stepped towards me and took my hand, and Maud also came to me. He said, ''I hope you are liking your place at Briar, Sue. I hope you are proving a good girl for your new mistress.''
I said, ''I hope I am too, sir.''
''She is a very good girl,'' said Maud. ''She is a very good girl, indeed.''
She said it in a nervous, grateful kind of way—like you would say it to a stranger, feeling pushed for conversation, about your dog.