called after silly flowers; told
by their father to be rude to me, their _aunt_! How could she love
them?'

'Agnes, I try hard not to lose my temper; but if you go on much longer
in your present vein of talk, I greatly fear that it will depart.'

'Then let it depart,' said Miss Delacour. 'Anything to rouse the man
who is going so madly, so cruelly, to work with regard to his family.
Now then, let me see. I am ever and always one who walks straight. I
am ever and always one who has an aim in view. My present aim is to
help another. There is a dear woman--a Mrs Macintyre--true Scotch.
You will like that, George. She has been left destitute. Her husband
died; her children died. She is alone, quite alone, in the world. She
has been most highly educated, and I have taken that dear thing up.
There are in the Upper Glen three houses, or, rather, palaces, I should
call them--one where you live, one where your sister, Mrs Constable,
lives. She seems a nice, sensible sort of woman, simple in her tastes
and devoted to her sons, except for the silly names she has given them.
But both The Paddock and The Garden are small in comparison with the
middle house, which has been unoccupied since before your marriage,
George. It is a spacious and beautiful place, and my intention--my
_firm intention_, remember--is to place Mrs Macintyre there and
establish a suitable school for your girls, for other girls. Your
girls can go to her as weekly boarders. I am not yet _quite_ sure
whether I shall admit the young Constables; but I may. Mrs Macintyre
is a magnificent woman. She will secure for your children, for the
other children, for the Constables, if _I_ permit it, the best masters
and mistresses from Edinburgh. You have a motor-car, have you not?'

'Yes.'

'You did not send it to meet your sister.'

'I did not.'

'Polite, I must say; but I forgive your bad manners. I proceed in the
true Christian spirit with my scheme. The middle house in the Upper
Glen belongs, as you know well, to the great Duke of Ardshiel. It is
sometimes called Ardshiel, but more often by the title The Palace of
the Kings. Since the sad tragedy which took place there, it has stood
empty, the Duke having many other country seats and avoiding this noble
mansion because of its associations. Well, George, you know all that
story; but when Mrs Macintyre came to me in her distress and poverty I
immediately thought of Ardshiel. I thought of it as t