Anna the Adventuress

"Anna!"

Anna kissed her sister and nodded to her aunt. Then she sat

down--uninvited--and looked from one to the other curiously. There was

something about their greeting and the tone of Annabel's exclamation

which puzzled her.

"I wish," she said, "that you would leave off looking at me as though

I were something grisly. I am your very dutiful niece, aunt, and your

most devoted sister, Annabel. I haven't murdered any one, or broken

the law in any way that I know of. Perhaps you will explain the state

of panic into which I seem to have thrown you."

Annabel, who was looking very well, and who was most becomingly

dressed, moved to a seat from which she could command a view of the

road outside. She was the first to recover herself. Her aunt, a faded,

anaemic-looking lady of somewhat too obtrusive gentility, was still

sitting with her hand pressed to her heart.

Annabel looked up and down the empty street, and then turned to her

sister.

"For one thing, Anna," she remarked, "we had not the slightest idea

that you had left, or were leaving Paris. You did not say a word about

it last week, nor have you written. It is quite a descent from the

clouds, isn't it?"

"I will accept that," Anna said, "as accounting for the surprise.

Perhaps you will now explain the alarm."

Miss Pellissier was beginning to recover herself. She too at once

developed an anxious interest in the street outside.

"I am sure, Anna," she said, "I do not see why we should conceal the

truth from you. We are expecting a visit from Sir John Ferringhall at

any moment. He is coming here to tea."

"Well?" Anna remarked calmly.

"Sir John," her aunt repeated, with thin emphasis, "is coming to see

your sister."

Anna drummed impatiently with her fingers against the arm of her

chair.

"Well!" she declared good-humouredly. "I shan't eat him."

Miss Pellissier stiffened visibly.

"This is not a matter altogether for levity, Anna," she said. "Your

sister's future is at stake. I imagine that even you must realize that

this is of some importance."

Anna glanced towards her sister, but the latter avoided her eyes.

"I have always," she admitted calmly, "taken a certain amount of

interest in Annabel's future. I should like to know how it is

concerned with Sir John Ferringhall, and how my presence intervenes."

"Sir John," Miss Pellissier said impressively, "has asked your sister

to be his wife. It is a most wonderful piece of good fortune, as I

suppose you will be prepared to admit. The Ferringhalls are of course

without any pretence at family, but Sir John is a very rich man, and

will be able to give Annabel a very enviable position in the world.

The settlements which he has spoken of, too, are most munificent. No

wonder we are anxious that nothing should happen to make him change

his mind."