On that account alone had she been allowed so much time to prepare to receive callers that it was only by the most manful efforts she could keep her lip from trembling.
A decorous maid conducted the long-belated applicant to her where she sat upon a sofa beside a nursery governess.

The decorous maid announced him composedly as he made his entrance.
"Mr.Penrod Schofield!" Miss Rennsdale suddenly burst into loud sobs.
"Oh!" she wailed.

"I just knew it would be him!" The decorous maid's composure vanished at once--likewise her decorum.
She clapped her hand over her mouth and fled, uttering sounds.

The governess, however, set herself to comfort her heartbroken charge, and presently succeeded in restoring Miss Rennsdale to a semblance of that poise with which a lady receives callers and accepts invitations to dance cotillons.

But she continued to sob at intervals.
Feeling himself at perhaps a disadvantage, Penrod made offer of his hand for the morrow with a little embarrassment.