Mr. Oriel was waiting for them in the porch and to him Miss Holly offered her employer’s excuses. Miss Sparling, she said, was much disappointed at being unable to join the party, but was detained by business and feared she would not be able to get away in time.
Mr. Oriel’s face fell.
“And I may tell you that happens to be true,” said Miss Holly. “It isn’t always, you know. A couple of the Governors came down and she had to give them lunch and do the civil.”
So pleased was Mr. Oriel to hear this that Miss Holly’s compact round form appeared to him almost seraphic; for the theft of Canon Horbury’s Fluvius Minucius lay heavy on his mind and he feared Miss Sparling might have heard of it and so taken a dislike to him. Though how she could have heard of it except through Mr. Carton he could
