Babie exulted in her work, and as her mother beheld Cecil's raptured
glance and the incarnadine glow it called up, she guessed all that
would follow in one rapid prevision, accompanied by a sharp pang for
her son in Japan. It was not in her maternal heart not to hope
almost against her will that some fibre had been touched by Bobus
that would be irresponsive to others, but duty and loyalty alike
forbade the slightest attempt to revive the thought of the poor
absentee, and she must steel herself to see things take their course,
and own it for the best.
Esther was a silent damsel. The clash of keen wits and exchange of
family repartee were quite beyond her. She had often wondered
whether her cousins were quarrelling, and had been only reassured by
seeing them so merry and friendly, and her own brother bearing his
part as naturally as the rest. She was more scandalised than ever
to-day, for it absolutely seemed to her that they were all treating
Captain Evelyn, long moustache and all, like a mere family butt,
certainly worse than they would have treated one of her own brothers,
for Rob would have sulked, and Joe, or any of the younger ones, might
have been dangerous, whereas this distinguished-looking personage
bore all as angelically as befitted one called by such a charming
appellation as the Honourable Cecil Evelyn.
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