Out of her sphere - University Library

74 OUT OF HER SPHERE.
his return from Drowsehead, asking, of
course, for Mrs. Rushington, and was shown,
not into the bright, pleasant morning-room,
to which he, in common with the intimates
of the house, had the entree, but into the
drawing-room, an apartment which was al-
most petrifying in its splendour, and re-
served only for state occasions and cere-
monious visits. He was kept waiting ten
minutes, and ten minutes, in his circum-
stances, in an unoccupied room, may be
fairly described as almost equal in suspense
and unpleasantness to the ten minutes spent
in a dentist's waiting-room. He was not
in general afraid of Mrs. Rushington, but,
looking at her as the mother of the young
lady whose hand he had come formally to
ask for, he did feel a little afraid of her
now. Quite enough so to make the ten
minutes seem an hour during which he was
kept waiting, and to throw him into an al-
most intolerable state of nervous anxiety.