She quietly sat down upon John's knees, leaned closely back against him, spread out the ample folds of her skirt, threw the lower parts of her broad cape over her shoulders and across the back of the chair, and Sir John Manners was invisible to mortal eyes.
"Come in, father," said Dorothy, in dulcet tones that should have betrayed her.
"I heard you laughing and talking," said Sir George, "and I wondered who was with you." "I was talking to Madge and Malcolm who are in the other room," replied Dorothy.
"Did not Thomas come in with fagots ?" asked Sir George.
"I think he is replenishing the fire in the parlor, father, or he may have gone out.

I did not notice.

Do you want him ?" "I do not especially want him," Sir George answered.
"When he finishes in the parlor I will tell him that you want him," said Dorothy.
"Very well," replied Sir George.
He returned to his room, but he did not close the door.
The moment her father's back was turned Dorothy called:-- "Tom--Tom, father wants you," and instantly Thomas was standing deferentially by her side, and she was seated in the great chair.

It was a rapid change, I assure you.

But a man's life and his fortune for good or ill often hang upon a tiny peg--a second of time protruding from the wall of eternity.