"I'm sure I don't know," she replied, "but from the way her friends speak of her, you'd think she came from Noah's Ark."[Pg 166] [Pg 166] "Dear me!" said the Bishop. "That's very curious." "They call her the Leopard," she went on, "and I must say for my part that I'm 'most as fond of the Leopard as I am of Jonah's whale." And she rose and joined the group about the tea-table, for she did not wish to try Miss Matilda's patience too far. "I don't know what you'll think of our quiet life. I fear it'll seem very strange to you," said his Lordship, addressing himself to Miss Arminster. "I think it'll be jolly," she replied promptly, looking up at him playfully to see whether he would bear chaffing, "and," she added, after due deliberation, "I think you're a dear, and your uniform is just sweet. I always did love a uniform. I used to be awfully gone, as a child, on a policeman at the corner of our block, but you're much more nicely dressed than he was." His Lordship started to say something crushing in regard to the sanctity of ecclesiastical trappings, but another glance at the bewitching[Pg 167] little figure that confronted him caused him to remark instead that he was glad she approved of him, and that he would try to take better care of her than even a guardian of the law. [Pg 167] "Oh, I'm afraid I've said something shocking!" she exclaimed in a delightfully naïve manner, "and I did mean to be so good and decorous. I'm sure I'll need a lot of teaching." "I shall be delighted to undertake the task," he replied gallantly. "Suppose we begin by going to evensong. Would you like to do so?" "Rather," she returned; "but I'm afraid," looking at her travelling-costume, "that I'm hardly dressed for the part—I mean the occasion." "Dear me!" said the Bishop, scrutinizing her keenly, "it seems to be a very pretty gown." "Oh, that's all right," she said. "Then we'll go at once."[Pg 168] [Pg 168] "So we shall," he replied, "and you shall sit in the stalls."
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