Chapter XXV

And now the small group of men and women who
were to be present at the marriage of Rose
Otway and Jervis Blake were gathered together in
Mrs. Robey's large drawing-room. Seven people in
all, for the Dean had not yet arrived.

In addition to the master and mistress of the hospitable
house in which they now all found themselves,
there were there Sir John and Lady Blake; Miss Forsyth
-- who, alone of the company, had dressed herself
with a certain old-fashioned magnificence; Sir Jacques,
who had just come into the room after taking Rose
and her mother up to Jervis's room; and lastly good
old Anna Bauer, who sat a little apart by herself,
staring with a strange, rather wild look at the group
of people standing before her.

To Anna's excited mind, they did not look like a
wedding party; they looked, with the exception of
Miss Forsyth, who wore a light grey silk dress
trimmed with white lace, like people waiting to start
for a funeral.

No one spoke, with the exception of Lady Blake,
who occasionally addressed a nervous question, in an
undertone, to Mrs. Robey.

At last there came the sound of the front door
opening and shutting. Mr. Robey went out, rather
hurriedly, and his wife exclaimed, "I think that must
be the Dean. My husband is taking him up-stairs----"
And then she waited a moment, and glanced

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v?