Margaret Maliphant

								

the face at his side that shone so fair against the little frilled
muslin curtain which she held aside with her hand.
The squire sat at the table; he had taken up the morning paper, and I
supposed that the frown on his face was summoned there by something
that he read in the columns of this the Liberal journal. Captain
Forrester left Joyce and came towards me as soon as I entered the room.
"Miss Maliphant, I am delighted to meet you again," said he, with his
pleasant polished manner that had the art of never making one feel
that he was saying a thing merely to be agreeable. "After our little
adventure of the other day, I felt that it was impossible for me to
leave the neighborhood without trying to make our acquaintance fast."
"Oh, are you leaving the neighborhood?" said I--I am afraid a little
too anxiously.
"Well, not just yet," smiled Captain Forrester. "I think I shall stay
till over the ball."
"Nonsense, Frank," said the squire, rising and pushing the paper away
from him. "Of course you will stay over the ball." Then turning to me,
he said, merrily, "No difficulty about you young ladies coming, I hope?"
"I don't know, Mr. Broderick," answered I. "You must wait and ask
mother. It's a very grand affair for two such simple girls as Joyce and
me."
"Oh, Margaret, I think we shall be allowed to go," put in Joyce, in her
gentle, matter-of-fact voice. "You know we went to a very late ball
last Christmas in town."
Considering that we had been sitting over frocks all the morning, this
would have been nonsense, excepting that Joyce never could see a joke.
"I think I shall have to take Mrs. Maliphant in hand myself if she
makes any objection," said the squire, "for we certainly can't spare
you and your sister."
Joyce blushed, and Captain Forrester turned to her and was going to
say something which I think would have been complimentary, when father
entered the room. He had his rough, brown, ill-cut suit on, and his
blue handkerchief twisted twice round his neck and tied loosely in
front, and did not look at all the same kind of man as the two in
front of him. I noticed it for the first time that evening. I was not
at all ashamed of it. If I had been questioned, I should have said
that I was very proud of it, but I just noticed it, and I wondered if
Captain Forrester noticed it too. It certainly was very odd that it
never should have occurred to me before, that this lover whom I had
picked out for Joyce belonged to the very same class as the squire,
whom I thought so unsuitable to her. I suppose it was because Captain
Forrester was not a landed proprietor, and that any man who belonged to
the noble career of soldiering atoned for his birth by his profession.
"How are you, Maliphant?" said the squire, grasping him by the hand
as though there had been no such thing as any uncomfortable parting
between them. "I'm glad to see you are none the worse for this cursed
east wind. It's enough to upset many a younger and stronger man."