CHAPTER IX. A SENSIBLE MAN. ON the following day May and three of her girls, well wrapped up in their waterproofs, were standing in the hall just ready to depart, when there came a loud knock at the door, and Mr. Trevor and a strange gentleman were discovered on the step. The vicar was extremely near-sighted. He pounced upon the tallest of the party, and, greatly to her confusion, addressed her as Miss Pemberton, and made inquiries respecting her mother's health. "Mamma is in the drawing-room, she will be very glad to see you, Mr. Trevor," May said, coming valiantly to the rescue. And then there was a little confused backing amongst the group, and everybody appeared slightly H disconcerted-save the stranger gentleman, who stroked his dark moustache, and looked extremely amused. "My brother, Major Trevor," the vicar said ; and May bowed, feeling a little perturbed, and wishing that Major Trevor's eyes would not penetrate so uncomfortably through her frame. He held the door open, and May and her satellites went out into the street, and made their way towards the nearest Underground station. They spent a very pleasant afternoon, and May enjoyed revisiting her old favourites, as much as her pupils, Do we not owe Kingsley a debt of unfading gratitude for teaching us to look through the eyes of Parson Lot' at some of our national treasures? It was only a little after five when she returned home, so there was plenty of time for a cup of tea with her mother and for a great deal of small talk before she went up stairs to dress. Mrs. Pemberton had been charmed with Major Trevor, "You will meet him to-night, May. He is going to the Despensers," the mother said; and, sure enough, soon afterwards May found herself going down to dinner by his side. She thought that he would not have recognised her she had been so hidden by her waterproof and thick veil. But it was very evident that Mr. Trevor's brother was not near-sighted. "He talked very nicely," she thought, and it was different, somehow, from the ordinary run of conversation between men and women. May had been exasperated often by the slight pause, and the change of voice which would mark the observations deemed suitable for the female intellect. Men who were talking delightfully to one another upon all kinds of far-reaching topics would pull up shortly, as though they had come to a blank mental wall, when brought in contact with the female mind. And May had even once received a hint from her aunt and chaperone that it was not always advisable to appear to understand too much about masculine discourse. She might get the reputation of being blue or strong-minded if it were discovered that she took a vital interest in other subjects |