"If you please--certainly," said Gladys, recovering herself with an effort. "I would much rather go to Miss Gwynne in any capacity, and if I can be of use--it is best, my dear mistress."
"Then go you, Gladys, and stop crying," said Mr Prothero. "Why, your eyes"ll be as red as ferrets when the gentleman comes, and he"ll think we"ve been giving you an appet.i.te by making you cry. I was near forgetting, Miss Hall, that we left a strange gentleman at the Park gate, who said he was going to call on you; he"s going to take a bed here, because there"s no inn nearer than the "Coach and Horses.""
"Who can that be?" said Miss Hall.
"We had better make haste home, or we shall miss him," said Freda.
"Good-bye, Mrs Prothero; I will come again and settle about Gladys."
It was nearly dusk when the ladies left the farm, and they walked very fast. They had not gone far when they saw some one on horseback coming towards them.
"I daresay this is your friend, and that stupid Morgan hasn"t let him in," said Freda.
"It cannot be; I do not know this gentleman at all," said Miss Hall, as the stranger advanced.
He looked at them, and they looked at him; but as there was no symptom of recognition on either side, they pa.s.sed without speaking.
"I hope we shall have a good night"s rest, now that Gladys is found,"
said Miss Gwynne. "What is there in the girl that interests one so much?
Even Mr Prothero, in spite of his son, was glad to find her, and to have her at the farm again. Colonel Vaughan admires her very much."
"I hope not too much," said Miss Hall quietly.
"What an absurd idea!" said Miss Gwynne, colouring from beneath her broad hat. "He is a man that admires beauty and talent, wherever it is to be found. I do like that sort of person; free from vulgar prejudice."
"Not quite, I think, my dearest Freda. He is not so easily read, perhaps, as you in your straightforward nature fancy."
"If he isn"t prejudiced, you are, at any rate," said Freda.
When they reached the house, Freda went into the drawing-room first, and Miss Hall heard her exclaiming, as she rushed out of it with a card in her hand,--
"Serena! Nita! only think! Mr Jones, Melbourne, South Australia! Hurrah!
I never thought I should be so glad to see a card bearing that name.
Morgan! why didn"t you ask the gentleman who called on Miss Hall to come in and wait?"
"I did not know, ma"am," said the man who was at the door. "My master does not always like strangers, and I did not know the gentleman."
Miss Hall had vanished upstairs during this little interlude with Morgan, so Freda did not see the agitation of her manner when she took the card and read the name. Freda went straight into the library, where she found her father half asleep over a letter.
"Papa! papa! Do you know an old friend of Miss Hall"s has called, that she has not seen for twenty years, and Morgan let him go away?"
"Wasn"t she glad, my dear? It is so exciting to see people whose very faces you have forgotten."
"Glad, papa? Of course not. He must just have come from Australia, where her sister is living, and I daresay has brought letters. By the way, there was a packet near the card."
"I don"t understand people going so far away from their own country."
"But, papa, Mr Jones--this gentleman--has gone to sleep at Mr Prothero"s, and I daresay they are not prepared for him."
"Really--well, my dear?"
"Don"t you think you had better write and ask him here to dinner, and I will order a bed to be prepared?"
"Me! My dear!--a perfect stranger!--a bore! Some one full of tiresome adventures and travellers" stories, and all that sort of thing."
"He is a clergyman, papa, and a Welshman, I believe. It would only be hospitable. We must not belie our country. Do write, papa. Think how anxious Miss Hall must be to hear of her sister."
"But you say she has a packet of letters."
"There is nothing like seeing a friend who has seen one"s sister, I should think. Just one line of invitation! We will amuse him. He is very quiet, Miss Hall says. Here is the paper and a new pen. There"s a good pappy, and--yes, "Presents his compliments"--yes--don"t forget the bed.
That"s right! Now, just add, "that if he prefers not coming to-night, you hope he will make a point of spending the day here to-morrow.""
"But I don"t hope it, my dear."
"We will amuse him. Drive him out--anything. And perhaps he won"t come."
"Very well. Remember that I am not expected to--to--"
"Nothing, but just to drive with him. Thanks! you are a capital _pater_, and I will send this off immediately. Just direct it, "---- Jones, Esq., Glanyravon Farm." I wonder whether his name is David? I hope not. I don"t like David."
"Freda carried the note to the butler herself, and told him to get it sent immediately, and to tell the messenger to wait for an answer; then she went with the parcel of letters to Miss Hall.
The note found Mr Jones, Mr Prothero, and Gladys comfortably established near a snug fire in the hall, at a well-spread tea-table. Mr Jones asked for tea in preference to _cwrw da_, and he and Gladys were enjoying it, whilst Mr Prothero chose the good home-brewed. Eggs and bacon, cold meat, and most tempting b.u.t.ter were upon the table, and Mrs Prothero was acting waitress and hostess at the same time.
Shanno appeared with the note, delicately held by the corner between her finger and thumb.
"From the Park, missus, for the gentleman."
"Promise you me, before you open it, not to go there to-night," said Mr Prothero, taking the note.
"That I can safely do," said Mr Jones.
When he had read the note he looked pleased, and his manner was rather flurried, as he said,--
"Perhaps I can manage to stay over to-morrow, but I will not go to-night. Will you oblige me with a pen and ink?"
Gladys was off in a moment, and returned with writing materials.
Mr Jones wrote a polite note, declining the invitation for that evening upon plea of the lateness of the hour and fatigue, but promising to call on the morrow early, and to remain the day, if he possibly could.
After he had despatched his note he seemed more thoughtful than he was before, and, for a short time, absent when spoken to; but rousing himself he made good return for the kindness and hospitality of his host and hostess by his agreeable and instructive conversation.
He told them that he had been a missionary ever since his ordination, and had travelled over the princ.i.p.al parts of the continent of Australia. Gladys forgot her fatigue in her great interest in his subject; and when he saw her deep attention, he frequently addressed her and drew forth questions from her which surprised Mr Prothero quite as much, or more than it did Mr Jones. Mrs Prothero knew the girl"s turn of mind too well to be astonished at the amount of missionary and geographical knowledge that she possessed. Gladys was naturally very timid and modest, but when subjects of interest were introduced she forgot her timidity in a desire for information.
Owen had discovered her bent, and in their frequent meetings, accidental or designed, had often chained her to him by descriptions of the countries he had visited and the wonders he had seen. He, too, had found out that there was a deep vein of romance running beneath the stratum of reserve that, at first, had formed the outward feature of her character, but which was wearing away as she became accustomed to her new friends, and had been treated as a friend by them.
It was evident that Mr Jones was greatly interested in Gladys. He addressed her, looked at her, called her "my dear," somewhat to the scandal of Mr Prothero, who thought him too young a man for such a familiar address. But Gladys only turned on him two beautiful eyes beaming with a kind of wondering grat.i.tude, and thought the white and grey hairs that were mingled with the brown, and the deep lines in his forehead, quite pa.s.sport enough for the two kind words.
In addition to a great deal of missionary adventure, Mr Jones told his new friends that he had come home partly in search of health and rest, and partly to stir up friends at home in the cause of religion abroad.