'So,' said Frank to himself, 'if I should do it, I should be owner of the ointment of Lebanon: how odd!' And then he gave her his arm and handed her down to dinner.
He certainly found that the dinner was less dull than any other he had sat down to at Courcy Castle. He did not fancy that he should ever fall in love with Miss Dunstable; but she certainly was an agreeable companion. She told him of her tour, and the fun she had in her journeys; how she took a physician with her for the benefit of her health, whom she generally was forced to nurse; of the trouble it was to her to look after and wait upon her numerous servants; of the tricks she played to bamboozle people who came to stare at her; and, lastly, she told him of a lover who followed her from country to country, and was now in hot pursuit of her, having arrived in London the evening before she left.
'A lover?' said Frank, somewhat startled by the suddenness of the confidence.
'A lover—yes—Mr. Gresham; why should I not have a lover?'
'Oh!—no—of course not. I dare say you have a good many.'
'Only three or four, upon my word; that is, only three or four that I favour. One is not bound to reckon the others, you know.'
'No, they'd be too numerous. And so you have three whom you favour, Miss Dunstable;' and Frank sighed, as though he intended to say that the number was too many for his peace of mind.
'Is not that quite enough? But of course I change them sometimes;' and she smiled on him very good-naturedly. 'It would be very dull if I were always to keep the same.'
'Very dull, indeed,' said Frank, who did not quite know what to say.
'Do you think the countess would mind my having one or two of them here if I were to ask her?'
'I am quite sure she would,' said Frank, very briskly. 'She would not approve of it at all; nor should I.'
'You—why, what have you to do with it?'
'A great deal—so much so that I positively forbid it; but Miss Dunstable—'
'Well, Mr. Gresham?'
'We will contrive to make up for the deficiency as well as possible, if you will permit us to do so. Now for myself—'
'Well, for yourself?'
At this moment the countess gleamed her accomplished eye round the table, and Miss Dunstable rose from her chair as Frank was preparing his attack, and accompanied the other ladies into the drawing-room.
