Page:Alice Lauder.pdf/147

everybody says, and generally wears a black alpaca—the sort of friend you like to have in your house when anyone is ill, or you have a lot of fruit to preserve. I dare say I shall like this rôle when I get used to it. However . . . .

“It is generally supposed in Green Street that Arthur Campbell will soon be engaged to the youngest Miss Granby, the one with a pet dog and a giggle. Nothing wears you out like a giggle in the long run, and I should think he would be perfectly miserable under those circumstances, even if the pet dog could be got rid of; but it can't be helped. Others among the more charitably disposed can easily foresee that he will end by running away with Mrs. Austin, or vice versa. I don’t think myself that he has any idea of taking flight in either direction. He often comes here and talks with Clare, and the children look upon him as a friend of the family who may be made use of in the direction of chocolate creams or other unconsidered trifles. He looks tired and careworn sometimes, and he often asks me to play ‘something soothing.’ He would sit there for hours if Clare would allow the soothing process to go on indefinitely; but though she has a real love of music, there are limits to her patience, and her hospitality prefers a lunch or dinner to the piano alone. . . . .