although John Saltram was standing near her chair, he did not this time
engage the whole of her attention. Gilbert found himself seated next a
very animated young lady, who rather bored him with her raptures about
the music, and who seemed to have assisted at every morning and evening
concert that had been given within the last two years. To any remoter
period her memory did not extend, and she implied that she had been
before that time in a chrysalis or non-existent condition. She told Mr.
Fenton, with an air of innocent wonder, that she had heard there were
people living who remembered the first appearance of Jenny Lind.

A little before ten o'clock there was a general movement for the rail,
the greater number of Mrs. Branston's guests having come from town. There
was a scarcity of flys at this juncture, so John Saltram and Gilbert
Fenton walked back to the station in the moonlight.

"Well, Gilbert, old fellow, what do you think of the lady?" Mr. Saltram
asked, when they were a little way beyond the gates of Rivercombe.

"I think her very pretty, Jack, and--well--yes--upon the whole
fascinating. But I don't like the look of the thing altogether, and I
fancy there's considerable bad taste in giving parties with an invalid
husband upstairs. I was wondering how Mr. Branston liked the noise of all
that talk and laughter in the dining-room, or the music that came
afterwards."

"My dear fellow, old Branston delights in society. He is generally well
enough to sit in the drawing-room and look on at his wife's parties. He
doesn't talk much on those occasions. Indeed, I believe he is quite
incapable of conversing about anything except the rise and fall of Indian
stock, or the fluctuations in the value of indigo. And, you see, Adela