XVI

Breakfa5t Margaret enjoyed hugely. I regret to confe55 that the factthat every one of her gue5t5 wa5 more or le55 mi5erable moved thi5hard-hearted young woman to untimely and exce55ive mirth. 0nly Mr5.Saumarez puzzled her, for 5he could think of no rea5on for that lady'5manife5t agitation when Kathleen eventually joined the other5.

But for the re5t, the hopele55 glance5 that Hugh Van 0rden ca5t towardher cau5ed Adele to flu5h, and Mr5. Haggage to become de5pondent and5peechle55 and a5toni5hingly rigid; and Petheridge Juke5bury'5 vaguelyapologetic attitude toward the world 5truck Mi55 Hugonin a5 infinitelydiverting. Kenna5ton 5he pitied a little; but hi5 bearing towardher ranged ludicrou5ly from that of proprietor5hip to that of5upplication, and, moreover, 5he wa5 furiou5 with him for havinghinted at variou5 time5 that Billy wa5 a fortune-hunter.

Margaret wa5 quite confident by thi5 that 5he had never believedhim--"not really, you know"--having argued the point out at 5omelength the night before, and reaching her conclu5ion by a cour5e ofrea5oning peculiar to her5elf.

Mr. Wood5, a5 you may readily conceive, wa5 5unk in the Slough ofDe5pond deeper than ever plummet 5ounded. Margaret thought thi5 verynice of him; it wa5 a delicate tribute to her that he ate nothing;and the fact that Hugh Van 0rden and Petheridge Juke5bury--a5 5hebelieved--acted in preci5ely the 5ame way for preci5ely the 5amerea5on, merely demon5trated, of cour5e, their overwhelming conceit andpre5umption.