Margaret went to Mrs. Cunningham 's door with her . `` How I wish I could go in and see the sensation you 'll make , Aunt Beatrice , '' she whispered . `` You dear , silly child ! It 's just the purple and fine linen , '' laughed Aunt Beatrice . But she did not altogether think so , and she rang the doorbell unquailingly . In the hall Mrs. Cunningham herself came beamingly to greet her . `` My dear Beatrice ! I 'm so glad . Bella said you could not come because you had a headache . '' `` My headache got quite better after they left , and so I thought I would get ready and come , even if it were rather late , '' said Beatrice glibly , wondering if Sapphira had ever worn a black-and-yellow dress , and if so , might not her historic falsehood be traced to its influence ? When they came downstairs together , Beatrice , statuesque and erect in her trailing draperies , and Mrs. Cunningham secretly wondering where on earth Beatrice Hayden had got such a magnificent dress and what she had done to herself to make her look as she did -- a man came through the hall . At the foot of the stairs they met . He put out his hand . `` Beatrice ! It must be Beatrice ! How little you have changed ! '' Mrs. Cunningham was not particularly noted in Murraybridge for her tact , but she had a sudden visitation of the saving grace at that moment , and left the two alone . Beatrice put her hand into the M.P. 's . `` I am glad to see you , '' she said simply , looking up at him . She could not say that he had not changed , for there was little in this tall , broad-shouldered man of the world , with grey glints in his hair , to suggest the slim , boyish young lover whose image she had carried in her heart all the long years .
But the voice , though deeper and mellower , was the same , and the thin , clever mouth that went up at one corner and down at the other in a humorous twist ; and one little curl of reddish hair fell over his forehead away from its orderly fellows , just as it used to when she had loved to poke her fingers XXXXX it ; and , more than all , the deep-set grey eyes looking down into her blue ones were unchanged .
after as in into of on so through to with