Jarvis came in search of her.
"Dexie, there is a gentleman in the parlor asking to see you."
"What a nuisance, when I want to see how this turns out! It is not Mr.
Traverse at this hour, of course," she added, carelessly.
"No; it is a stranger. He is a large, dark-complexioned man, with a heavy
black moustache and beautiful black eyes--a perfect gentleman, Dexie!"
The dish fell from Dexie's hand with a crash to the floor.
"Heaven preserve me! what shall I do?" and she turned pale to her lips. "I
cannot see him, Jarvis; I really cannot! Here, I'll write a line to papa,
and you can take the gentleman to his room," and with trembling fingers she
wrote a few words and gave them to the nurse; then, throwing off her big
apron, she seized a hat, sayings to Eliza, who looked on in astonishment:
"Tell Mrs. Jarvis that I have gone over to Ada Chester's, and I won't be
back till tea-time, when I hope that man will be gone; and oh, Eliza! do,
like a good girl, clean up that mess for me," pointing to the demolished
dish and the contents thereof, "and I'll do something for you sometime. I
dare not stop, for I am properly scared for once," and she flew out the
back-door, down through the kitchen garden and into a back street, out of
sight of the house, before she stopped to regain her breath.
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