"
At this moment some of the gentlemen arrived, and the group of ladies
broke up to admit the black coats. One man passed by and came on towards
the end of the room where we were. It was Richard Dawson.
I saw Lady Ardaragh suddenly move her skirt so as to leave a vacant
place on the sofa upon which she was sitting; but he disregarded the
invitation, if such it were, and came on towards us.
I saw him stoop to kiss his mother and the lighting up of the plain,
elderly face, and it came into my mind that however intolerable he was
to me, there must be another side of him for her.
For the remainder of that evening he never left my side, and no one
could dislodge him, to my great vexation. I thought he was doing it only
to annoy me. But I kept close to his mother, so that there was less
chance of his making me conspicuous, none at all of his whispering and
languishing as he had done at the dinner-table.
I could not see how my grandmother was taking it, since she sat at the
same side of the room as I did; but I was glad that Mr. Dawson kept my
grandfather in conversation so that he could not see what was going on,
for I felt sure that however much he might wish to be civil to the
Dawsons, he could not have endured Richard Dawson's attentions to me,
since he was very proud.
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