The Real Charlotte. 1 97 



Lambert turned his head upon its cushion, and looked at 

 her. 



" I think I'll leave you a little more space than that, 

 Charlotte, if ever we stable our horses together." 



She glanced at him, as aware of the double entendre^ and 

 as stirred by it as he had intended her to be. Perhaps a 

 little more than he had intended ; at all events, he jerked 

 himself into a sitting position, and, getting on to his feet, 

 stretched himself with almost ostentatious ease. 



" Where's Francie ? " he asked, yawning. 



*' At home, dressmaking," replied Miss Mullen. She was 

 a little paler than usual. " I think I'll go in now and have 

 a cup of tea with Lucy," she said, rising from the garden 

 bench with something like an effort. 



" Well, I daresay I'll take the mare down to Tally Ho, 

 and make Francie go for a ride," said Lambert ; " it's a 

 pity for anyone to be stewing in the house on a day like this." 



" I wanted her to come here with me, but she wouldn't," 

 Charlotte called after him as he turned towards the path 

 that led to the stables. " Maybe she thought there might 

 be metal more attractive for her at home ! " 



She grinned to herself as she went up the steps. *' Me 

 gentleman may put that in his pipe and smoke it," she 

 thought ; "that little hussy would let him think it was for 

 him she was sitting at home ! " 



Ever since Mrs. Lambert's first entrance into Lismoyle 

 society, she had found in Charlotte her most intimate and 

 reliable ally. If Mr. Lambert had been at all uneasy as to 

 his bride's reception by Miss Mullen, he must have been 

 agreeably surprised to find that after a month or so Charlotte 

 had become as useful and pleasant to Mrs. Lambert as in 

 older days she had been to him. That Charlotte should 

 have recognised the paramount necessity of his marrying 

 money, had been to Lambert a proof of her eminent com- 

 mon sense. He had always been careful to impress his ob- 

 vious destiny upon her, and he had always been grateful to 

 that destiny for having harmlessly fulfilled itself, while yet 

 old Mrs. Mullen's money was in her own keeping, and her 

 niece was, beyond all question, ineligible. That was Mr. 

 Lambert's view of the situation; whatever Charlotte's 

 opinion was, she kept it to herself. 



