“Ah yes; of course. You were very friendly with both my brothers, I believe, so it is curious they never told you of their love for Rose Silverton.”
“Well—I heard something about it,” said the Rector, with a hesitating glance at Maurice.
“Oh, my dear Rector, I am going to say nothing against my sister-in-law. She was a very charming woman.”
“She was all that was good and pure,” remarked Maurice abruptly; annoyed, he knew not why, at the tone adopted by Mrs. Dengelton in speaking of his dead mother.
“Yes, I know she was. Still, my dear Maurice, you must pardon my plain speech, but she did flirt terribly with Rudolph.”
“It is not ridiculous at all,” said the lady, drawing herself up; “it was on your mother’s account Rudolph left England.”
“Who said so?” demanded Maurice indignantly.
Maurice was about to make some remark, when he caught sight of a warning look on Carriston’s face, therefore held his peace.
“What I was about to remark,” pursued Mrs. Dengelton, choosing her words carefully, “was that, when my brothers, Rudolph and Austin, came home,—the first from his regiment, the second from college,—they both fell in love with Rose Silverton, whose father was a retired captain in the army. Rudolph, as you know, Rector, was the heir to Roylands, and Captain Silverton naturally wanted Rose to marry him, as the match was such a good one. She, however, preferred Austin.”
“Love _versus_ Money, and Love was triumphant,” said Maurice, smiling.
“If you put it like that, I suppose it was,” replied his aunt frigidly. “Well, Rose, as I have said, flirted considerably with Rudolph, though she loved my brother Austin best. Oh, you need not shake your head, Rector—Rose did flirt!”
“My dear aunt, spare the dead,” observed Maurice, with a groan, for this old lady was really terrible with her malignant tongue.
“I hope I am too good a churchwoman to speak evil of any one, dead or alive,” said Mrs. Dengelton, with dignity. “But I will make no further remarks if they are so displeasing to you, though why they should be displeasing I cannot conceive. Well, to gratify her father, Rose appeared to favor Rudolph, but in secret she met Austin. Such duplicity! I beg your pardon, Maurice, but it was duplicity.”