Presently she looked up with her usual bright smile.

"This is all very interesting, Hilda, and I fully sympathize with
your feelings behind the hedge; but you have not told me how you
came to know about our new neighbours. Did Colonel Ferrers join
you at your peep-hole?"

"He did, mamma! He did just precisely that. I saw him coming along
the road, swinging his stick, and frowning and humming to
himself,--dear thing! And when he came near the house, and heard
the voices, he stopped and looked, and began to go softly and
slowly; so then I knew that he, too, wanted to see what was going
on. So I slipped to the gate and beckoned to him, and he came in
on tiptoe and joined me. Such fun we had,--just like two
conspirators! He could see over my head, so we could both look at
once; and he kept muttering scraps of information in my ear, so
that it quite buzzed. Yes, I know you are shocked, dear madam, but
it really could not be helped; and you said once to Jack--poor old
Jack!--that his uncle was a criterion of gentle breeding and
manners! So now, Mrs. Grahame!"

"Well," said Mrs. Grahame, "since matters are so, I may as well
hear what my criterion had to say about our new neighbours. A
pretty state of things, truly! the magnate and the maiden, spying
through bushes on these unsuspecting strangers. Say on, unhappy
girl!"

"Of course he said, 'Hum, ha!' first, a good many times; and we
laughed at each other, under our breath, and were very happy. And