But Mrs.
Rossall preferred to go; she was not sure that the juncture had not some connection with her own spiritual life.

And she maintained, on the whole, a seemly cheerfulness.
Mr.Athel was an Egyptologist of some distinction.

Though not in person or manner suggestive of romantic antecedents, he had yet come by this taste in a way which bordered on romance.

Travelling in Southern Europe at about the age which Wilfrid had now reached, he had the good fortune to rescue from drowning an Italian gentleman then on a tour in Greece.
The Italian had a fair daughter, who was travelling with him, and her, after an acquaintance of a few weeks, Athel demanded by way of recompense.

Her father was an enthusiastic student of Egyptian antiquities; the Englishman plied at one and the same time his wooing and the study of hieroglyphics, with marked success in both directions.
The Mr.Athel who at that time represented parental authority, or at all events claimed filial deference, was anything but pleased with the step his son had taken; he was a highly respectable dealer in grain, and, after the manner of highly respectable men of commerce, would have had his eldest son espouse some countrywoman yet more respectable.