Victoria said to herself, "Heavens!--she _is_ in love with him--and she
is letting Harry sit up at nights to write to her!"
Her mother's heart beat fast with anger. But she held herself in hand.
"Well; as I have said, we shall soon be able to test him," she repeated,
coldly; "we shall soon know what to think. His letter will show whether
he is a man with feeling and conscience--a gentleman--or an adventurer!"
There was silence. Lydia was thinking passionately of Mainstairs and
of the deep tones of a man's voice--"If _you_ condemn and misunderstand
me--then indeed I shall lose heart!"
A humming sound could be heard in the far distance.
"Here they are," said Lady Tatham rising. Victoria's half-masculine
beauty had never been so formidable as it was this afternoon. Deep in her
heart, she carried both pity for Harry, and scorn for this foolish girl
walking beside her, who could not recognize her good fortune when it
cried out to her.
They hastened back to the drawing-room; and at the same moment Tatham and
Felicia walked in.
Felicia advanced with perfect self-command, her small face flushed with
pink by the motion of the car. In addition to the blue frock, Victoria's
maid had now provided her with a short cape of black silk, and a wide
straw hat, to which the girl herself had given a kind of tilt, a touch of
audacity, in keeping with all the rest of her personality.
As she came in, she glanced round the room with her uncannily large
eyes--her mother's eyes--taking in all the company.
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