behaved unbecomingly in my
youth, my mother always recommended me to go upstairs, shut myself up
alone in my room, and collect my thoughts. The process had invariably
a calming effect. I advise you to try it."

Robinette did not need to be proffered the hint twice. She rushed out
of the room like a whirlwind, not looking where she went. In the hall,
she came face to face with Lavendar, who had just left the dining
room.

"Mr. Lavendar!" she cried. "Do go into the drawing room and speak to
my aunt. Preach to her! Argue with her! Convince her that she can't
and mustn't act in this way; can't go and turn Mrs. Prettyman out, and
rob her of the plum tree, and leave her with hardly a penny in the
world or a roof over her head!"

"It's not a very pretty or a very pleasant business, Mrs. Loring, I
admit," said Lavendar quietly.

"Is it English law?" cried Robinette with indignation. "If it is, I
call it mean and unjust!"

"Sometimes the laws seem very hard," said Lavendar. "I'd like to
discuss this affair with you quietly another time."

As he spoke, Carnaby appeared and wanted to be told what the matter
was, but Robinette discovered that it is not very easy to criticise a
grandmother to her youthful grandson, more especially when the lady in
question is your hostess.

"Aunt de Tracy and I have had a little difference of opinion about
Mrs. Prettyman and her cottage, and the plum tree," she said to the
boy quietly, and Lavendar nodded approval.

"Prettyman's got the sack, hasn't she?" Carnaby enquired with a boy's
carelessness.

Robinette looked very grave. "My dear old nurse is to leave her
cottage," she said with a quiver in her voice. "She's to lose her plum
tree--"

"But of course she'll get compensation," cried Carnaby.

"No, Middy; she's to get no compensation," said Robinette in a low
voice.

"Well, I call that jolly hard! It's a beastly shame," said Carnaby,
evidently pricking up his ears and with a sudden frown that changed
his face. "I say, Mark--" But Lavendar did not think the moment
suitable for a discussion of Mrs. Prettyman's wrongs. Besides, he did
not wish Robinette to be banished from the drawing room for a whole
interminable evening. He contrived to silence Carnaby for the time
being.

"Let's bury the hatchet for a little while," he suggested. "Have you
forgotten, Mrs. Loring, that I made Mrs. de Tracy promise to show off
the Stoke Revel jewels for your benefit this very night?"

"O! but