Miss
Merton had boasted already of two love-affairs--one the unsuccessful
engagement in Barbadoes, the other--"a near thing"--which had enlivened
the voyage to England; and she had extracted a promise from Diana to ask
the young solicitor she had met with in the train--Mr. Fred Birch--to
lunch, without delay. Meanwhile she had not--of her own initiative--said
one word of those educational objects, in pursuit of which she was
supposed to have come to England. Diana had proposed to her the names of
certain teachers both of music and languages--names which she had
obtained with much trouble. Miss Fanny had replied, rather carelessly,
that she would think about it.
It was at this that the eager sweetness of Diana's manner to her cousin
had shown its first cooling. And Mrs. Colwood had curiously observed
that at the first sign of shrinking on her part, Miss Fanny's demeanor
had instantly changed. It had become sugared and flattering to a degree.
Everything in the house was "sweet"; the old silver used at table, with
the Mallory crest, was praised extravagantly; the cooking no less. Yet
still Diana's tired silence had grown; and the watching eyes of this
amazing young woman had been, in Mrs.
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