Leonard; and she felt that his calm resentment was worse than his
violence.

'He will be cooler, and then--'

'I will have no more said to him. It is plain that we cannot live
together, and there's an end of it. Don't cry, or you won't be fit to
be seen.'

'I won't come down to dinner.'

'Yes, you will. Let us have no more about it. Some one wants you.'

'Please, ma'am, the fish is come.'

'Sister, sister, come and see how I have done up the macaroons in green
leaves.'

'Sister, sister, do come and reach me down some calycanthus out of the
greenhouse!'

'I will,' said Leonard, descending; and for the rest of the day he was
an efficient assistant in the decorations, and the past adventure was
only apparent in the shattered glass, and the stern ceremonious
courtesy of the younger brother towards the elder.

Averil hurried about, devoid of all her former interest in so doing
things for herself as to save interference; and when Mrs. Ledwich and
Mrs. Pugh walked in, overflowing with suggestions, she let them have
their way, and toiled under them with the sensation of being like 'dumb
driven cattle.' If Leonard were to be an exile, what mattered it to
her who ruled, or what appearance things made?

Only when she went to her own room to dress, had she a moment to
realize the catastrophe, its consequences, and the means of averting
them. So appalled was she, that she sat with her hair on her shoulders
as if spell-bound, till the first ring at the door aroused her to speed
and consternation, perhaps a little lessened by one of her sisters
rushing in to say that it was Mrs. Ledwich and Mrs. Pugh, and that
Henry was still in the cellar, decanting the wine.

Long before the hosts were ready, Dr. May and Ethel had likewise
arrived, and became cognizant of the fracture of the mirror, for,
though the nucleus was concealed by a large photograph stuck into the
frame, one long crack extended even to the opposite corner. The two
ladies were not slow to relate all that they knew; and while the aunt
dismayed Ethel by her story, the niece, with much anxiety, asked Dr.
May how it was that these dear, nice, superior young people should have
such unfortunate tempers--was it from any error in management? So
earnest was her manner, so inquiring her look, that Dr. May suspected
that she was feeling for his opinion on personal grounds, and tried to
avert the danger by talking of the excellence of the parents, but he
was reca