Sometimes Hope came to dine at the Pyramids, and on these occasions
Mrs. Jasher was present in her character of chaperon. As Miss Kendal was
helping the widow to marry Professor Braddock, she in her turn did her
best to speed Archie's wooing. Certainly the young couple were engaged
and there was no understanding to be brought about. Nevertheless, Mrs.
Jasher was a useful article of furniture to be in the room when they
were together, for Gartley, like all English villages, was filled with
scandalmongers, who would have talked, had Hope and Lucy not employed
Mrs. Jasher as gooseberry. Sometimes Donna Inez came with the widow,
while her father was hunting for the mummy in Pierside, and then Sir
Frank Random would be sure to put in an appearance to woo his Dulcinea
in admiring silence. Mrs. Jasher declared that the two must have made
love by telepathy, for they rarely exchanged a word. But this was all
the better, as Archie and Lucy chattered a great deal, and two pair of
magpies--Mrs. Jasher declared--would have been too much for her nerves.
She made a very good chaperon, as she allowed the young people to act as
they pleased, only sanctioning the meetings by her elderly presence.
One evening Mrs. Jasher was due to dinner, and Hope had already arrived.
No one else was expected, as Don Pedro had taken his daughter to the
theatre at Pierside and Sir Frank had gone to London in connection with
his military duties. It was a bitterly cold night, and already a fall
of snow had hinted that there was to be a real English Christmas of
the genuine kind. Lucy had prepared an excellent dinner for three, and
Archie had brought a set of new patience cards for Mrs. Jasher, who was
fond of the game. While the widow played, the lovers hoped to make love
undisturbed, and looked forward to a happy evening. But there was one
drawback, for although the dinner hour was supposed to be eight o'clock,
and it was now thirty minutes past, Mrs. Jasher had not arrived. Lucy
was dismayed.
"What can be keeping her?" she asked Archie, to which that young
gentleman replied that he did not know, and, what was more, he did not
care. Miss Kendal very properly rebuked this sentiment. "You ought to
care, Archie, for you know that if Mrs. Jasher does not come to dinner,
you will have to go away."
"Why should I?" he inquired sulkily.
"People will talk."
"Let them. I don't care."
"Neither do I, you stupid boy. But my father will care, and if people
talk he will be very angry."
"My dear Lucy," and Archie put his arm round her waist to say this, "I
don't see why you should be afraid of the Professor. He is only your
step-father, and you aren't so very fond of him as to mind what he says.
Besides, we can marry soon, and then he can go hang."