Aunt Patty's Paying Guests by Eglanton Thorne

AUNT PATTY was as much astonished as I was to see Professor Faulkner calmly walking in the garden as if he had never been away. But before she had time to express her amazement Paulina caught sight of us and shouted gaily:

"Ah, Mrs. Lucas, here is a surprise for you! The truant professor has turned up at last!"

As she and her companion came smilingly to meet us, Paulina looked little prepared to meet misfortune. She was in the brightest mood, and began at once to rally her father on arriving before he was expected and disappointing Miss Cottrell, who had driven into Chelmsford to meet the train by which he usually returned. But I was only vaguely conscious of what Pollie was saying and had no thought at that moment for Mr. Dicks's painful position. The sight of Alan Faulkner threw me into a state of nervous tremor which made me feel positively ill. My heart throbbed painfully, my limbs trembled beneath me, and I felt an absurd longing to run away and hide somewhere.

"You will forgive me for presenting myself in this unexpected fashion? " Alan Faulkner was saying as he shook hands with my aunt. "I found myself free to travel south sooner than I had hoped, and, though I did write, my letter must have missed the post; at any rate, I have arrived before it."

"It is doubtless lying in the Chelmsford post-office," said Aunt Patty; "no one has been there to get letters this afternoon; but it does not matter in the least, Mr. Faulkner-I am only too glad to see you. Your room is quite ready for you, is it not, Nan?"

"Oh, yes," I responded in a high, clear voice, that surprised myself. "Aye ready' is our motto at 'Gay Bowers. ' How are you, Mr. Faulkner?"

I purposely made my greeting as cool and careless as possible; but he shook hands with me very heartily, and there was a look in his eyes that arrested mine and held them fascinated for a long moment. That look assured me that all his old friendliness had revived, and I read more in it-something that I could not well define. My gaze dropped beneath his and I turned quickly away; but my heaviness of heart was gone.

"You look very tired, poppa," I heard Paulina say. "That wretched business has given you a headache, I know. Why would you go to town to-day? I don't believe your going made a bit of difference to the business after all."

"You are right, Pollie," her father replied in a melancholy tone; "it certainly did not."

"Ah! I knew it! " said Paulina triumphantly. "I told you so, if you remember, but you would not listen to me."

"However mistaken your father has been, my dear, you must not scold him now," interposed Aunt Patty, "he is too tired. The City of London is not a desirable place on a broiling summer day. Let him rest in peace till he has had his dinner-it should be ready in less than half-an-hour. You will be glad of it, too, Mr. Faulkner."

"Oh, as for that," he replied, "I came up from Scotland by the night train, and so had time for a comfortable luncheon ere I left town. Moreover, Miss Dicks has refreshed me since my arrival with a cup of tea, of which I was very glad after walking from the station."

I looked at Paulina. Her eyes were smiling with mischief as she glanced at me.

"By the by," continued Alan Faulkner, turning to Mr. Dicks, "you must have come by the same train as I. Where did you get to that I saw nothing of you?"

Mr. Dicks's colour rose as he answered with some confusion that he "guessed" he was in the back of the train, and he had loitered in the fields on the way home. The next moment a diversion was created by the arrival of the wagonette, with Miss Cottrell sitting within, forlorn and agitated. Her surprise and excitement when she perceived that her betrothed had arrived before her was ludicrous. Descending hastily from the vehicle, she overwhelmed him with more questions than he could possibly answer.

I saw Alan Faulkner's eyes gleam with amusement as he watched them, and I felt sure that Paulina had told him of the relationship into which these two had entered. Poor Miss Cottrell! How would she bear the disappointment which fate had in store for her? I tried to feel as sorry for her as I should, but my heart was dancing with joy as I ran upstairs. What selfish wretches we are! How little we feel the sorrows of others when our own happiness seems secure!

"Nan," cried Paulina, thrusting her head just inside my door and looking the incarnation of mischief, "I had such a nice talk with the Professor before you came home. Only think of my having to entertain him for more than an hour! But we neither of us found the time long, I can assure you."

I laughed and said I thought it a pity we had not stayed away a little longer. I knew Paulina too well by this time for her attempt at teasing me to have the least effect. I tried to sober myself by thinking of the bad news Paulina must soon learn and how hard it would be for her to face poverty; but I could not feel sad as I arranged my hair in the most becoming way I knew and put on my prettiest blouse. Verily girls are callous mortals.

No one watching the party that gathered round the table a little later could have suspected that there was trouble in the air. Mr. Dicks was certainly more quiet than usual, but his daughter and his fiancé talked so much that his silence was not remarked. Miss Cottrell had recovered from her perturbation, and she made us laugh by a vivid and droll description of her various misgivings and emotions when she discovered that the train had not brought Josiah Dicks.

Alan Faulkner did not say a great deal, but all that he said was worth hearing, and he evinced such genuine satisfaction at being amongst us once more-"at home," as he once expressed it to Aunt Patty's great delight-that we all felt complimented.