e kept him there so
long. Lady Hawkesby was a little exacting in some ways; and though she
recognised that the judge had a right to go fishing, she disliked his
running away without spending a few days with her after the busy season
was over, and she was able to leave London. The day of the judge's
departure had arrived, and he sat with Lady Hawkesby after luncheon,
waiting for the carriage which was to take him to the station.

"You'll see Millicent, of course," said Lady Hawkesby. "Be sure to
keep her out of mischief if you can."

"I don't suppose," said Sir Gilbert, "that Millicent can get into any
mischief in Ballymoy."

Lady Hawkesby sighed. She distrusted her niece, regarding her as a
highly dangerous person who might at any moment create a sensation
which would amount to a public scandal.

"I understand," she said, "that the place is twenty miles away from the
nearest railway station."

She sighed again. She was a little uncertain as to whether she ought
to find comfort or fresh cause of anxiety in the remoteness of Ballymoy
from civilisation. On the one hand, scandals of a literary kind--and
Lady Hawkesby did not suspect Miss King of giving occasion for anything
worse--are unlikely in the wilds of Connacht. On the other hand, her
distance from all friends and advisers would give Miss King a freedom
which was very perilous.

"I can't think," she said, "what takes either of you to such a place."

"I'm going to catch salmon," said Sir Gilbert. "Millicent tells me
that she wants rest and quiet. I daresay she does."

"I wish very much," said Lady Hawkesby, "that she was safely married to
some quiet sensible man."

There was a good deal of sound common sense and knowledge of human
nature in her "safely." Lady Hawkesby was not a brilliant woman. She
was in many ways a foolish woman. But she had certain beliefs founded
on the experience of many generations of people like herself, and
therefore entitled to respect. She believed that a woman is much less
likely to wander from the beaten paths of life when her hands are held
by a husband, if possible "a quiet sensible man," and her petticoats
grasped by several clinging children.

"I'm afraid," said Sir Gilbert, "that she's not likely to meet with any
suitable person in Ballymoy, but if she does I'll give her your
blessing as well as my own."

The fact that Miss King was not likely to meet an eligible man in
Ballymoy set Lady Hawkesby's thoughts