o away with the child until all was put
right again--a phrase which included the removal of Miss Derrick
to her own home; but of this Emmeline would not hear. How could she
enjoy an hour of mental quietude when, for all she knew, Mrs.
Higgins and the patient might be throwing lamps at each other? And
her jealousy was still active, though she did not allow it to betray
itself in words. Clarence seemed to her quite needlessly anxious in
his inquiries concerning Miss Derrick's condition. Until that young
lady had disappeared from 'Runnymede' for ever, Emmeline would keep
matronly watch and ward.

Mrs. Higgins declared at least a score of times every day that she
could _not_ understand how this dreadful affair had come to pass.
The most complete explanation from her daughter availed nothing; she
deemed the event an insoluble mystery, and, in familiar talk with
Mrs. Mumford, breathed singular charges against Louise's lover.
'She's shielding him, my dear. I've no doubt of it. I never had a
very good opinion of him, but now she shall never marry him with
_my_ consent.' To this kind of remark Emmeline at length deigned no
reply. She grew to detest Mrs. Higgins, and escaped her society by
every possible manoeuvre.

'Oh, how pleasant it is,' she explained bitterly to her husband, 'to
think that everybody in the road is talking about us with contempt!
Of course tile servants have spread nice stories. And the
Wilkinsons'--these were the people next door--'look upon us as
hardly respectable. Even Mrs. Fentiman said yesterday that she
really could not conceive how I came to take that girl into the
house. I acknowledged that I must have been crazy.'

'Whilst we're thoroughly upset,' replied Mumford, with irritation at
this purposeless talk, 'hadn't we better leave the house and go to
live as far away as possible?'

'Indeed, I very much wish we could. I don't think I shall ever be
happy again at Sutton.'

And Clarence went off muttering to himself about the absurdity and
the selfishness of women.

For a week or ten days Louise lay very ill; then her vigorous
constitution began to assert itself. It helped her greatly towards
convalescence when she found that the scorches on her face would not
leave a permanent blemish. Mrs. Mumford came into the room once a
day and sat for a few minutes, neither of them desiring longer
communion, but they managed to exchange inquiries and remarks with a
show of came from Cobb, Emmeline made no