“Don't you think Captain Hornaby is a very handsome young man?” Florence looked and found that her questioner was Lady Elfrida Hastings, the only sister of the Earl. When that lady had visited them at Nahant, she had considered her the embodiment of all the female virtues. She recalled her statuesque repose, and her aristocratic manner which had so pleased her father. She also remembered the morning when she was discovered by Maude practising the Lady Elfrida's poses, and her sister's inquiry as to whether she had a chill and wanted the quinine pills.
Feeling the necessity of saying something, she replied: “I haven't noticed him particularly.”
The Lady Elfrida, perfect gentlewoman that she was, said severely, for her, “Your failure to do so, certainly was not due to lack of opportunity.”
So, her long absence in his company had been noticed. She was at a loss for a reply, when to her great relief the Earl approached and asked if she would play a certain piece which he had admired very much when in America.
“I can't remember,” said the Earl. “It ran something like this,” and he hummed a few measures.
“Oh,” cried Florence, “Old Folks at Home.” The scene through which she had gone with the Captain had awakened deep emotions, and her voice was in the temperamental condition to give a sadly-weird effect to the lines of the chorus. When she sang
the Lady Elfrida turned to Mrs. Ellice, the Rector's wife, and remarked, “There was a rumour that Captain Hornaby was greatly interested in Miss Sawyer, but from something she told me to-night I do not think it will be a match.”
“Why, what did she say?” asked Mrs. Ellice with natural feminine curiosity as regards love affairs.
“I hardly feel warranted in repeating it,” said the Lady Elfrida, “as it was given to me in confidence.”
Later in the evening the Lady Elfrida sought Captain Hornaby. “My dear Captain, don't you think Miss Sawyer sings divinely?”
The Captain, with his mind on Col. Spencer and the tenfold check, replied, rather brusquely, “I'm not a great lover of negro melodies.”
The Lady Elfrida felt sure that Captain Hornaby was still an “eligible,” but she reflected that he was a fourth son and dependent upon the bounty of his father and elder brother, and that her dowry must come from her brother who, in her opinion, had a very extravagant wife--but none of those American girls had any idea of economy.
