"You ought to hear the pleasant news my sister has just brought me,"
said Hardyman, when Isabel joined him in the parlor. "Mrs. Drumblade has
been told, on the best authority, that my mother is not coming to the
party."
"There must be some reason, of course, dear Isabel," added Mrs.
Drumblade. "Have you any idea of what it can be? I haven't seen my
mother myself; and all my inquiries have failed to find it out."
She looked searchingly at Isabel as she spoke. The mask of sympathy on
her face was admirably worn. Nobody who possessed only a superficial
acquaintance with Mrs. Drumblade's character would have suspected how
thoroughly she was enjoying in secret the position of embarrassment in
which her news had placed her brother. Instinctively doubting whether
Mrs. Drumblade's friendly behavior was quite as sincere as it appeared
to be, Isabel answered that she was a stranger to Lady Rotherfield, and
was therefore quite at a loss to explain the cause of her ladyship's
absence. As she spoke, the guests began to arrive in quick succession,
and the subject was dropped as a matter of course.
It was not a merry party. Hardyman's approaching marriage had been made
the topic of much malicious gossip, and Isabel's character had, as usual
in such cases, become the object of all the false reports that
scandal could invent. Lady Rotherfield's absence confirmed the general
conviction that Hardyman was disgracing himself. The men were all
more or less uneasy.
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