She would have stood a moment to
notice the delightful lines the gables made against the sky, but a figure
at one of the deep, narrow-paned windows to the right of the porch caught
her attention, and remembering that she had come on sober business, she
walked briskly up to the heavy iron-studded door within the porch and
pulled the twisted bell rope.
By Miss Merivale's orders she was shown into the library, a delightful
room looking out on the garden at the back of the house. She had ample
time to notice what a dear old garden it was, for Miss Merivale kept her
waiting quite a quarter of an hour.
More than once Miss Merivale went across the narrow hall and put her hand
on the door, and then went back to the drawing-room, finding her courage
fail her. And when at last she entered, she was so deadly pale, Rhoda lost
all her nervousness in pity for her; she felt sure that she must be ill.
"Yes, that will do very nicely," Miss Merivale said, after giving the
typewritten programmes a cursory glance and pushing them from her. Her
eyes went back to Rhoda's face. She saw now that the fleeting glimpse she
had got of her on the staircase had somewhat deceived her. Rhoda was not
as pretty as she had thought. Her mouth was a little too wide, and her
nose had too blunt a tip for beauty. But it was a charming face,
nevertheless, full of heart-sunshine; and the dark brown, darkly-fringed
eyes would have redeemed a plainer face.
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