His eyes brightened, his cheeks glowed. He took the offered buds, but
did not throw away the other bunch.
"At any rate, I may come after lunch is over, and the afternoons and
evenings will be the most delicious time of day a month hence." He
said this to both Molly and Cynthia, but in his heart he addressed it
to the latter.
Mrs. Gibson affected not to hear what he was saying, but held out her
limp hand once more to him.
"I suppose we shall see you when you return; and pray tell your
brother how we are longing to have a visit from him again."
When he had left the room, Molly's heart was quite full. She
had watched his face, and read something of his feelings: his
disappointment at their non-acquiescence in his plan of a day's
pleasure in Hurst Wood, the delayed conviction that his presence
was not welcome to the wife of his old friend, which had come so
slowly upon him--perhaps, after all, these things touched Molly more
keenly than they did him. His bright look when Cynthia gave him the
rose-buds indicated a gush of sudden delight more vivid than the pain
he had shown by his previous increase of gravity.
"I can't think why he will come at such untimely hours," said Mrs.
Gibson, as soon as she heard him fairly out of the house. "It's
different from Osborne; we are so much more intimate with him: he
came and made friends with us all the time this stupid brother of
his was muddling his brains with mathematics at Cambridge. Fellow of
Trinity, indeed! I wish he would learn to stay there, and not come
intruding here, and assuming that because I asked Osborne to join in
a picnic it was all the same to me which brother came."
"In short, mamma, one man may steal a horse, but another must not
look over the hedge," said Cynthia, pouting a little.
"And the two brothers have always been treated so exactly alike by
their friends, and there has been such a strong friendship between
them, that it is no wonder Roger thinks he may be welcome where
Osborne is allowed to come at all hours," continued Molly, in high
dudgeon. "Roger's 'muddled brains,' indeed! Roger, 'stupid!'"
"Oh, very well, my dears! When I was young it wouldn't have been
thought becoming for girls of your age to fly out because a little
restraint was exercised as to the hours at which they should receive
the young men's calls. And they would have supposed that there might
be good reasons why their parents disapproved of the visits of
certain gentlemen, even while they were proud and pleased to see some
members of the same family."