CHAPTER XXI.
THE FIRST EVENING AT RUFFORD HALL.
The phaeton arrived the first, the driver having been especially told by Arabella that he need not delay on the road for the other carriage.

She had calculated that she might make her entrance with better effect alone with her mother than in company with Morton and the Senator.

It would have been worth the while of any one who had witnessed her troubles on that morning to watch the bland serenity and happy ease with which she entered the room.

Her mother was fond of a prominent place but was quite contented on this occasion to play a second fiddle for her daughter.

She had seen at a glance that Rufford Hall was a delightful house.