mpression on your son;
and Mr. Ovid made certain inquiries which you had not thought necessary.
Pardon me if I persist in mentioning the circumstances. I owe it to
myself to justify my opinion--an opinion, you will please to remember,
that I did not volunteer. Mr. Ovid's investigations brought to light a
very unpleasant report, relating to Mr. Le Frank and a young lady who
had been one of his pupils."

"An abominable slander, Miss Minerva! I am surprised that you should
refer to it."

"I am referring, madam, to the view of the matter taken by Mr. Ovid.
If Mr. Le Frank had failed to defend himself successfully, he would of
course not have been received into this house. But your son had his own
opinion of the defence. I was present at the time, and I heard him say
that, if Maria and Zoe had been older, he should have advised employing
a music-master who had no false reports against him to contradict. As
they were only children, he would say nothing more. That is what I had
in my mind, when I gave my opinion. I think Mr. Ovid will be annoyed
when he hears that Mr. Le Frank is his cousin's music-master. And, if
any foolish gossip reaches him in his absence, I fear it might lead to
mischievous results--I mean, to misunderstandings not easily set right
by correspondence, and quite likely therefore to lead, in the end, to
distrust and jealousy."

There she paused, and crossed her hands on her lap, and waited for what
was to come next.

If Mrs. Gallilee could have looked into her mind at that moment as well
as into her face, she would have read Miss Minerva's thoughts in these
plain terms: "All this time, madam, you have been keeping up appearances
in the face of detection. You are going to use Mr. Le Frank as a means
of making mischief between Ovid and Carmina. If you had taken me into
your confidence, I might have been willing to help you. As it is, please
observe that I am not caught in the trap you have set for me. If
Mr. Ovid discovers your little plot, you can't lay the blame on your
governess's advice."

Mrs. Gallilee felt that she had again measured herself with Miss
Minerva, and had again been beaten. She had confidently reckoned on
the governess's secret feeling towards her son to encourage, without
hesitation or distrust, any project for promoting the estrangement of
Ovid and Carmina. There was no alternative now but to put her first
obstacle in the way of the marriage, on her own sole responsibility.

"I don