How are all the others, and are you pilgrims again to-day ?' H.O.does not always answer questions.

He turned to the man and said-- 'Are you going to marry the lady ?' 'Margaret,' said the clergyman, 'I never thought it would come to this: he asks me my intentions.' 'If you ARE,' said H.O., 'it's all right, because if you do Albert's uncle can't--at least, not till you're dead.

And we don't want him to.' 'Flattering, upon my word,' said the clergyman, putting on a deep frown.
'Shall I call him out, Margaret, for his poor opinion of you, or shall I send for the police ?' Alice now saw that H.O., though firm, was getting muddled and rather scared.

She broke cover and sprang into the middle of the scene.
'Don't let him rag H.O.any more,' she said, 'it's all our faults.

You see, Albert's uncle was so anxious to find you, we thought perhaps you were his long-lost heiress sister or his old nurse who alone knew the secret of his birth, or something, and we asked him, and he said you were his long-lost grandmother he had known in India.