She said to me--'I hope your brother is not laughing at my little friend, Matty Bell.' Then she added, 'I know Matty is not beautiful nor specially attractive, but she has the kindest heart.' I said perhaps you were flirting, and that I knew you could flirt.

She did not make any answer, only she looked grave, and turned away when you and Miss Bell came near us." "That accounts," began Loftus.

He did not explain himself further and by-and-by the little party reached the Manor.
There was an old tumble-down lodge at the gates.

It was inhabited by a very poor man, who, for the sake of getting a shelter over his head, now and then undertook to clean up and do odd jobs in the Rosendale gardens.
Mrs.Bertram thought it well to have some one in the lodge, and she was pleased with the economical arrangement she had made with David Tester.
One of his duties was to lock the old gates at night.

There was a small and a large gate leading into the avenue, and it was one of Mrs.
Bertram's special whims that both should be locked at night.