"Yes; and now get it ready as quickly as you can, for the sooner we have tea over the sooner they will go--at least, I hope so. Heigh-ho! I wish they were gone," she sighed, as she returned to the drawing-room. "Still," she thought, as she paused at the door ere opening it, "if Robert would but come even now how bright all would be! How comparatively easy the task of amusing these people if he were present! There would be an interest in hearing him talk (though he never says much in company) and in talking in his presence. There can be no interest in hearing any of them, or in speaking to them. How they will gabble when the curates come in, and how weary I shall grow with listening to them! But I suppose I am a selfish fool. These are very respectable gentlefolks. 
Get it ready as quickly as you can, for the sooner we have tea the sooner they will go - at least, I hope so."
She sighed as she returned to the drawing-room. "Still," she thought, "if Robert would come even now, how bright all would be! There would be an interest in hearing him talk. There can be no interest in hearing any of them. How they will gabble when the curates come in! But I suppose I am a selfish fool. These are very respectable gentlefolks. 