"Rosalind, I am disappointed in you. I will not discuss the matter with
you. You know my wish; I expect you to obey me."
And he left the room.
She remained standing where she was till the bell rang for dinner. Then
with a shiver she went down-stairs.
On the stairs she met Mr Armstrong.
"Your father has returned," said he.
"Yes, with a friend. Are you going down, or shall you stay with Roger?"
"May I?" he asked.
"You know how glad he will be."
So the tutor turned back, and thought to himself that Miss Rosalind was
evidently anxious that he should not be a witness to her introduction to
her father's friend.
Mr Ratman, brilliantly arranged in evening dress, and evidently already
very much at home, was comfortably leaning against the mantelpiece in
the hall as she descended. He did not wait for an introduction.
"I could tell Miss Oliphant anywhere," said he, advancing, "by her
likeness to her father. May I offer you my arm?"
"I am not at all like father," said she quietly, scanning him as she
spoke in a way which made even him uncomfortable, and then putting her
hand on her father's arm.
Thus repulsed, the visitor cheerfully offered his arm to Mrs Ingleton,
congratulating her as he did so on the recovery of her son.
During the meal he was aware that the young lady's eyes were completing
their scrutiny, and although, being a bashful man, he did not venture
too often to meet them with his own, he was conscious that the result
was not altogether satisfactory to himself. His few attempts to talk to
her fell flat, and in spite of the captain's almost nervous attempts to
improve the festivity of the occasion, the meal was an uncomfortable
one.
"Where's old Armstrong?" demanded Tom.
"With Roger," replied Rosalind.
"Have you seen Armstrong?" inquired the boy of the visitor; "he's a
stunner, I can tell you. He can bend a poker double across his knee.
You'll like him awfully; and he plays the piano like one o'clock. He's
our tutor, you know--no end of a chap."
Mr Ratman was fain to express a longing desire to make the acquaintance
of so redoubtable a hero.
"Does he lick you?" he inquired.
"Sometimes, when it's wanted; but, bless you, he could take the lot of
us left-handed; couldn't he, Jill?"
"Oh, yes," said Jill enthusiastically; "and he saved Roger's life, and
prevented Hodder being turned out, and won such a lot of prizes at
Oxford."
"He must be a fine fellow," said Ratman, with a disagreeable laugh.
"You admire him too, of course, Miss Oliphant?"
"Yes, he's honest," said she.
"Teddy, my boy," said the visitor, when he and his friend had been left
alone at the table, "that girl of yours is a treasure. She don't fancy
me, but she'll get over that. I like her, Teddy; I like her."
That evening, on his way to say good night to his dear ward, Captain
Oliphant stopped at his daughter's door.
She was hard at work over a picture.
"Rosalind," said he, "you have disappointed me. But if your mind is
made up, I know it is no use my setting up my authority against your
self-will. Therefore, to relieve you of the sin of disobedience to your
father's wishes, I withdraw my refusal to your proposal. You may do as
you like. Good night!"