For myself I feel no doubt that the mystery will be cleared up at last;
and then, if you will come here, we shall be so glad to see you.--I
shall at least.'

Then the major went, and Miss Prettyman herself actually descended with
him into the hall, and bade him farewell most affectionately before her
sister and two of the maids who came out to open the door. Miss Anne
Prettyman, when she saw the great friendship with which the major was
dismissed, could not contain herself, but asked most impudent questions,
in a whisper indeed, but in such a whisper that any sharp-eared
maid-servant could hear and understand them. 'Is it settled,' she asked
when her sister had ascended only the first flight of stairs;--'has he
popped?' The look with which her elder sister punished and dismayed the
younger, I would not have borne for twenty pounds. She simply looked,
and said nothing, but passed on. When she had regained her room she rang
the bell, and desired to ask the servant to ask Miss Crawley to be good
enough to step to her. Poor Miss Anne retired discomforted into the
solitude of one of the lower rooms, and sat for some minutes all alone,
recovering from the shock of her sister's anger. 'At any rate, he hasn't
popped,' she said to herself, as she made her way back to the school.

After that Miss Prettyman and Miss Crawley were closeted together for
about an hour. What passed between them need not be repeated here word
for word; but it may be understood that Miss Prettyman said no more than
she ought to have said, and that Grace understood all that she ought to
have understood.

'No man ever behaved with more considerate friendship, or more like a
gentleman,' said Miss Prettyman.