"She will be back to dinner, dear Richard. Stay and dine."
"Thank you. I must go into the City first. I will come back and dine."
With that arrangement in prospect, he left them.
An hour later a telegram arrived from Natalie. She had consented to
dine, as well as lunch, in Berkeley Square--sleeping there that night,
and returning the next morning. Her father instantly telegraphed back
by the messenger, insisting on Natalie's return to Muswell Hill that
evening, in time to meet Richard Turlington at dinner.
"Quite right. Joseph," said Miss Lavinia, looking over her brother's
shoulder, while he wrote the telegram.
"She is showing a disposition to coquet with Richard," rejoined Sir
Joseph, with the air of a man who knew female human nature in its
remotest corners. "My telegram, Lavinia, will have its effect."
Sir Joseph was quite right. His telegram _had_ its effect. It not only
brought his daughter back to dinner--it produced another result which
his prophetic faculty had altogether failed to foresee.
The message reached Berkeley Square at five o'clock in the afternoon.
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