“Cecilia,” Mrs. Kavanagh had said on Ingram’s leaving, “you must not be rude to Mr. Lavender.”  She knew the perfect independence of that gentle young lady, and was rather afraid it might carry her too far.

“Of course I shall not be, mamma,” Mrs. Lorraine had said.  “Did you ever hear of such a courageous act as that man coming up to two strangers and challenging them, all on behalf of a girl married to some one else?  You know that was the meaning of his visit.  He thought I was flirting with Mr. Lavender and keeping him from his wife.  I wonder how many men there are in London who would have walked twenty yards to help in such a matter?’

“My dear, he may have been in love with that pretty young lady before she was married.”

“Oh no,” said the clear-eyed daughter quietly, but quite confidently.  “He would not be so ready to show his interest in her if that were so.  Either he would be modest, and ashamed of his rejection, or vain, and attempt to make a mystery about it.”

“Perhaps you are right,” said the mother:  she seldom found her daughter wrong on such points.

“I am sure I am right, mamma.  He talks about her as fondly and frequently and openly as a man might talk about his own daughter.  Besides, you can see that he is talking honestly.  The man couldn’t deceive a child if he were to try.  You see everything in his face.”

“You seem to have been much interested in him,” said Mrs. Kavanagh, with no appearance of sarcasm.

“Well, I don’t think I meet such men often, and that is the truth.  Do you?” This was carrying the war into the enemy’s country.

“I like him very well,” said Mrs. Kavanagh.  “I think he is honest.  I do not think he dresses very carefully; and he is perhaps too intent on convincing you that his opinions are right.”  “Well, for my part,” said her daughter, with just the least tinge of warmth in her manner, “I confess I like a man who has opinions, and who is not afraid to say so.  I don’t find many who have.  And for his dressing, one gets rather tired of men who come to you every evening to impress you with the excellence of their tailor.  As if women were to be captured by millinery!  Don’t we know the value of linen and woolen fabrics?”

“My dear child, you are throwing away your vexation on some one whom I don’t know.  It isn’t Mr. Lavender?” “Oh dear, no!  He is not so silly as that:  he dresses well, but there is perfect freedom about his dress.  He is too much of an artist to sacrifice himself to his clothes.”

“I am glad you have a good word for him at last.  I think you have been rather hard on him since Mr. Ingram called; and that is the reason I asked you to be careful.”

She was quite careful, but as explicit as good manners would allow.  Mrs. Lorraine was most particular in asking about Mrs. Lavender, and in expressing her regret that they so seldom saw her.

“She has been brought up in the country, you know,” said Lavender with a smile; “and there the daughters of a house are taught a number of domestic duties that they would consider it a sin to neglect.  She would be unhappy if you caused her to neglect them:  she would take her pleasure with a bad conscience.”