, for the Captain's regiment was
ordered on foreign service, and Evelyn went away to regions where it was
not possible for Henrietta to visit her.

But if she had lived in England, Henrietta would not have felt herself
at liberty to go away for long. After she got home, she felt glad she
had not extended her visit to the Carringtons, for Mrs. Symons was not
so well, and she died shortly afterwards, and Henrietta reigned in her
stead.

CHAPTER VI

The household changed now; two new elements were introduced: William
came from London to be a partner in his father's firm, and lived at
home, and Harold, who had been employed by an engineer in the North,
found work in the neighbourhood and came back too. So that Henrietta's
life became at once much fuller of interest and importance than it had
been for years. As the only lady of the house, she was bound to be
considered, to make decisions, to have much authority in her own hands,
and at twenty-seven she greatly appreciated authority. If she was not to
have love, she would at any rate have position, and the servants found
her an exacting mistress. Mrs. Symons, though she had given over certain
duties to Henrietta, had kept herself head of the house to the time of
her death. She had a way with servants: they always liked her, and
stayed with her; but latterly she had let things slide, and when
Henrietta took her place she found much to criticize. Most of the
servants left, but some stayed, and agreed with Ellen that it was "just
Miss Henrietta's way; she was funny sometimes." However, they got used
to her, and things jogged along pretty quietly.

When Ellen left to be married, and there was no one in the kitchen to
make allowances for her, she had much more difficulty, and Mr. Symons
was occasionally disturbed in his comfortable library by an indignant
apparition, which declared amid gulps that it had "no wish whatever to
make complaints, but really Miss Henrietta----!"

Mr. Symons thought this very hard. "Can't you manage to make them
decently contented? We never used to have this sort of thing," he would
say. Henrietta would defend herself by counter-charges, and on the whole
felt the incident was creditable to her, as showing that she was a
power, and a rather dreaded power, in the house.

The men thought also that they were under a needlessly harsh yoke.
Henrietta grumbled when they were late for meals, or creased the
chintzes, or let the dog in with muddy pa