A Chance Encounter Read Free

his way by his womenfolk than was Mr. Rowe when he departed for Mr. Mainwaring’s house. He was sent back upstairs once to change his coat because the first one was too loose for current fashion. He complied with his wife’s demands with an amused indulgence and pinched his daughter’s chin as he made his escape to his waiting horse.
    Mrs. Rowe and Cecily jumped to their feet in unrestrained excitement when he strolled into the drawing room a little less than two hours later, and Elizabeth smiled up at him from her embroidery.
    â€œWell, Cecily,” he began, “it seems that your mama is right again. Mr. Mainwaring is, in fact, both young and handsome.”
    â€œOh, Papa,” Cecily squealed.
    â€œI am so gratified that you went today to pay your respects,” his wife added ecstatically. “I vow that you must have stolen a march on Squire Worthing, which is only as it should be, my second cousin Harriet being sister-in-law to an earl.”
    â€œNo one in his right mind would argue that that connection gives us a position of undisputed superiority in the county, my love,” her husband replied indulgently, “but Worthing was there before me, with Ferdie in tow.”
    â€œHow provoking!” said Mrs. Rowe. “But do tell all, my dear Mr. Rowe. What manner of man is Mr. Mainwaring, and who are his guests? Will they feel it a condescension to associate with us? Or are they prepared to join in the social activities of the neighborhood? Oh, depend upon it, Lady Worthing will have them all to dine before we can make plans. She will be pushing that pasty little Lucy at him, mark my words, though the chit is only seventeen and much too young to be setting her cap at a gentleman from town. But then, Lady Worthing always did lack something of breeding. Father a cit, you know, Miss Rossiter.”
    â€œAm I to answer your questions now, my love?” Mr. Rowe asked meekly. “The gentleman of the house is tall, dark, and handsome, Cecily—definitely the answer to a maiden’s dreams, I believe. He might be difficult to bring to the point, though, love,” he added as Cecily clasped her hands to her bosom and gazed adoringly at him. “His manners are quite correct, but there is a certain stiffness about the man. He is not perfectly amiable, I would guess.”
    Cecily seemed quite unperturbed. If a man were tall, dark, handsome, wealthy, and single, what more could a girl ask for?
    â€œIt seems that there are two more gentlemen and two ladies at the house,” her father continued, “though I met only a Mr. and Mrs. Prosser, a youngish and perfectly amiable couple. Mrs. Prosser’s sister is also of the party, we were told, and another mysterious gentleman, whom I heard referred to only as ‘his lordship.’ There, my dear, have I not made you happy today? Your family has been put upon visiting terms with our new neighbor, I have discovered the answers to many of your questions, and I have left you with an intriguing mystery.”
    â€œâ€˜His lordship,’” Mrs. Rowe repeated. “We have a member of the aristocracy in our midst. Now I wonder if he is a handsome man.”
    â€œHe is probably a hunchback with a squint and not a groat to his name,” her husband suggested with a straight face.
    Mrs. Rowe chose to ignore this witticism. “When may one decently invite them to dine?” she asked of no one in particular. “Next week for an informal dinner of, say, twenty people? Could we have dancing too? Or would cards only be more appropriate for a first visit?”
    â€œI think none of those plans would be suitable, Dorothy,” her husband said quite firmly, “until Mr. Mainwaring returns my call and shows that he wishes for our acquaintance.”
    â€œOh, but, Papa,” Cecily wailed, “we might wait forever.”
    â€œPrecisely, my love,” her father replied unsympathetically. “But, Miss