She rose and left them; and Bland sought Mrs. Kettering and acquainted her of his engagement, and begged her to make it known, which she promised to do. He failed to find Sylvia until she was coming down to dinner, when she beckoned him.
"Have you told Susan yet?" she asked.
"Yes," Bland beamed; "I told her at once. I should have liked to go about proclaiming the delightful news!"
Sylvia looked disturbed; Bland could almost have fancied she was angry.
As a matter of fact, troubled thoughts were flying through her mind.
It was obvious that she would shortly be called upon to face a crisis.
"After all," she said, with an air of resignation which struck him as out of place, "I suppose you had to do so; but you lost no time."
"Not a moment!" he assured her. "I felt I couldn't neglect anything that brought you nearer to me."
Then they went on, and meeting the other guests in the hall, Sylvia acknowledged the shower of congratulations with a smiling face. She escaped after dinner, however, without a sign to Bland, and did not reappear. During the evening, he found Ethel West sitting alone in a quiet nook.
"Mrs. Marston seemed a little disturbed at the news you gave her," he remarked.
"So I thought," said Ethel.
"I suppose the George you mentioned is her trustee, who went to Canada and took your brother? You once told me something about him."