ion of her leaving her
house for his--he was only a little clerk earning two pounds a week, and
she was Squire of the Manor. Possibly this very fact made him hesitate,
fear to presume.... Well, she must show him he was wrong, and this
Whitsuntide was her opportunity. But she wished that she could feel more
queenly in her mind--less abject, craving and troubled. In outward
circumstances she was his queen, but in her heart she was his slave.

She plunged into an orgy of preparation. Mrs. Tolhurst and Mene Tekel
and the new girl from Windpumps who now reinforced the household were
nearly driven off their legs. Ellen spared the wretched man much in the
way of feather-beds--just one down mattress would be enough, town people
weren't used to sleeping on feathers. She also chastened the scheme of
decoration, and substituted fresh flowers for the pampas grasses which
Joanna thought the noblest adornment possible for a spare bedroom. On
the whole Ellen behaved very well about Albert Hill--she worked her best
to give him a favourable impression of Ansdore as a household, and when
he came she saw that he and her sister were as much alone together as
possible.

"He isn't at all the sort of brother-in-law I'd like you to have, my
dear," she said to Tip, "but if you'd seen some of the men Joanna's
taken up with you'd realize it might have been much worse. I'm told she
once had a most hectic romance with her own shepherd ... she's
frightfully impressionable, you know."

"Is she really?" said Tip in his slow, well-bred voice. "I shouldn't
have thought that."

"No, because--dear old Jo! it's so funny--she's quite without art. But
she's always been frightfully keen on men, though she never could
attract the right sort; and for some reason or other--to do with the
farm, I suppose--she's never been keen on marriage. Now lately I've been
thinking she really ought to marry--lately she's been getting quite
queer--_detraquee_--and I do think she ought to settle down."

"But Hill's much younger than she is."

"Joanna would never care for anyone older. She's always liked boys--it's
because she wants to be sure of being boss, I suppose. I know for a fact
she's turned down nearly half a dozen good, respectable, well-to-do
farmers of her own age or older than herself. And yet I've sometimes
felt nervous about her and Peter Crouch, the groom.... Oh, I tell you,
Jo's queer, and I'll be thankful if she marries Bertie Hill, even though
he is off