But Mrs.Grey was not there.

She had come half way, and returned home alone.
"Well, I must say that is very odd, considering I invited her to spend the day, and, I think, rather disrespectful of me--to us both, Maria." "She might have been tired after the party last night," put in Aunt Maria.
"No, she wasn't tired, for she never told me so." said Arthur.

"She told me to say--not you, Phillis, mother always trusts me with her messages-- that she had gone back on account of papa's wanting her, and that if he came to fetch us, she would come here with him in the evening." "Very devoted! 'An old man's darling and a young man's slave,' runs the proverb; but Mrs.Grey seems to reverse it.

She will soon never stir out an inch without your brother, Maria." "And I am sure my brother never looks so happy as when she is beside him," said Aunt Maria.

"We shall quite enjoy seeing them both together to-night." "And I only wish it had been my good fortune to join such a pleasant family party," observed Sir Edwin Uniacke.
It was rather too broad a hint, presuming even upon Miss Gascoigne's large courtesy.