It was
his cousin Mabel, and when he saw her he knew that she must have come
to pay them a visit, and he knew too that she must have come because he
was at home. He was not attached to his cousin, who was an ordinary
young person, but hitherto he had always rather enjoyed her society,
because he knew that it was her private ambition to marry him. He did
not attribute affection to Mabel, only ambition; but that had pleased
his vanity. To-day he felt exceedingly sorry that she had come.
Mabel held the gate shut so that he could not pass.
"Where have you been?" asked she, pretending sternness.
"Just along by the shore." He noticed as he said it that Mabel's frock
had a dragged look about the waist, and that the seams were noticeable
because of its tightness. He remembered that her frocks had this
appearance frequently, and he wished they were not so ill-made.
"I shan't let you in," cried Mabel sportively, "till you tell me exactly
what you've been doing for this age."
"I have not been serving my age much," he said, with some weariness in
his tone.
"What?" said Mabel.
"You asked me what I had been doing for this age," said he. It was
miserably stupid to explain.
When Caius and Mabel had sauntered up through the warm fields to the
house, his mother met them in the front parlour with a fresh cap on. Her
cap, and her presence in that room, denoted that Mabel was company.
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