"I hope you notice the difference in our occupations, Mr. Hamley.
Molly, you see, devotes herself to the useful, and I to the
ornamental. Please, under what head do you class what you are doing?
I think you might help one of us, instead of looking on like the
Grand Seigneur."
"I don't know what I can do," said he, rather plaintively. "I should
like to be useful, but I don't know how; and my day is past for
purely ornamental work. You must let me be, I'm afraid. Besides, I'm
really rather exhausted by being questioned and pulled about by those
good doctors."
"Why, you don't mean to say they have been attacking you since
lunch!" exclaimed Molly.
"Yes; indeed, they have; and they might have gone on till now if Mrs.
Gibson had not come in opportunely."
"I thought mamma had gone out some time ago!" said Cynthia, catching
wafts of the conversation as she flitted hither and thither among the
flowers.
"She came into the dining-room not five minutes ago. Do you want her,
for I see her crossing the hall at this very moment?" and Osborne
half rose.
"Oh, not at all!" said Cynthia. "Only she seemed to be in such a
hurry to go out, I fancied she had set off long ago. She had some
errand to do for Lady Cumnor, and she thought she could manage to
catch the housekeeper, who is always in the town on Thursday."
"Are the family coming to the Towers this autumn?"
"I believe so. But I don't know, and I don't much care. They don't
take kindly to me," continued Cynthia, "and so I suppose I'm not
generous enough to take kindly to them."
"I should have thought that such a very unusual blot in their
discrimination would have interested you in them as extraordinary
people," said Osborne, with a little air of conscious gallantry.
"Isn't that a compliment?" said Cynthia, after a pause of mock
meditation. "If any one pays me a compliment, please let it be short
and clear. I'm very stupid at finding out hidden meanings."
"Then such speeches as 'you are very pretty,' or 'you have charming
manners,' are what you prefer. Now, I pique myself on wrapping up my
sugar-plums delicately."
"Then would you please to write them down, and at my leisure I'll
parse them."
"No! It would be too much trouble. I'll meet you half-way, and study
clearness next time."
"What are you two talking about?" said Molly, resting on her light
spade.
"It's only a discussion on the best way of administering
compliments," said Cynthia, taking up her flower-basket again, but
not going out of the reach of the conversation.