a little touchy, and this
ought to be considered. He thought it might be well, the next time he saw
Miss Bannister by herself, to explain this to her. He believed he could
do it without making it appear a matter of any great importance. It was
important, however, for he should very much dislike to see ill will grow
up between Miriam and Miss Bannister. What Miss Panney had said about
this young lady was very, very true, although, of course, it did not
follow that any one else need be disparaged.

Early in the forenoon of the next day, Miss Panney drove to Cobhurst. She
had come, she informed Miriam, not only to see her, dear girl, but to
make a formal call upon the Dranes.

The call was very formal; Miss Drane left her work to meet the visitor,
but having been loftily set aside by that lady during a stiff
conversation with her mother about old residents in the neighborhood in
which they had lived, she excused herself, after a time, and went back to
her table and her manuscripts.

Then Miss Panney changed the conversational scene, and began to talk
about Thorbury.

"I do not know, madam," she said, "that you are aware that I was the
cause of your coming to this neighborhood."

Mrs. Drane was a quiet lady, and the previous remarks of her visitor had
been calculated to render her more quiet, but this roused her.

"I certainly did not," she said. "We came on the invitation and through
the kindness of Dr. Tolbridge, my old friend."

"Yes, yes, yes," said Miss Panney, "that is all true enough, but I told
him to send for you. In fact, I insisted upon it. I did it, of course,
for his sake; for I knew that the arrangement would be of advantage to
him in various ways, but I was also glad to be of service to your
daughter, of whom I had heard a good report. Furthermore, I interested
myself very much in getting you lodgings, and found you a home at Mrs.
Brinkly's that I hoped you would like. If I had not done so, I think you
would have been obliged to go to the hotel, which is not pleasant and
much more expensive than a private house. I do not mention these things,
madam, because I wish to be thanked, or anything of that sort; far from
it. I did what I did because I thought it was right; but I must admit, if
you will excuse my mentioning it, that I was surprised, to say the least,
that I was not consulted, in the slightest degree, on the occasion of
your leaving the home I had secured for you."

"I am very sorry," said Mrs