"They will probably let us know; but it's best to be ready when guests may come any time, isn't it ?" He asked her this with a cheering smile, because her manner was strange, and he wished to rouse her to a sense of her duties.
"Yes, sir; 'twouldn't seem like as if we was truly expecting and hoping unless we did our best to be ready." The fervour of her answer surprised him.
For some time past Winifred Rexford had been spending part of each morning learning housewifery of Mrs.Martha.That day, because of the rain, Trenholme insisted upon keeping her to dinner with him.

He brought her into his dining-room with playful force, and set her at the head of his table.

It was a great pleasure to him to have the child.

He twitted her with her improvement in the culinary art, demanding all sorts of impossible dishes in the near future for his brother's entertainment.

He was surprised at the sedateness of her answers, and at a strange look of excited solicitude that arose in her eyes.