b and cry, reiterate
that everyone was unkind, that she was miserable, that it was a shame
that she could not be happy like other girls, until at last Miss Carr,
in despair, sent her upstairs to her bedroom, and went to rejoin Mr
Bertrand.

"Well?" he said, stopping short in his pacings up and down, and
regarding her with an anxious gaze, "what luck?"

Miss Carr gave a gesture of impatience.

"Oh, none--none at all! She will do nothing but cry and make a martyr
of herself. She will not acknowledge that she has made a mistake, and
yet I know, I feel, it is not the right thing! You must speak to Arthur
Newcome yourself to-morrow, and try to make him consent to a few months'
delay."

"I was thinking of that myself. I'll try for six, but he won't consent.
I can't say I should myself under the circumstances. When Lettice has
accepted him and cries her eyes out at the idea of giving him up, you
can hardly expect the young fellow to be patient. Heigho, these
daughters! A nice time of it I have before me, with four of them on my
hands."

Punctually at eleven o'clock next morning Arthur Newcome arrived for his
interview with Mr Bertrand. They were shut up together for over half-
an-hour, then Mr Bertrand burst open the door of the room where Miss
Carr and his daughter were seated, and addressed the latter in tones of
irritation such as she had seldom heard from those kindly lips.

"Lettice, go to the drawing-room and see Mr Newcome. He will tell you
what we have arranged. In ten minutes from now, come back to me here."

Lettice dropped her work and glided out of the room, white and noiseless
as a ghost, and her father clapped his hands together in impatience.

"Bah, what a man! He drives me distracted! To think that fate should
have been so perverse as to saddle me with a fellow like that for a son-
in-law! Oh dear, yes, perfectly polite, and all that was proper and
well-conducted, but I have no chance against him--none! I lose my head
and get excited, and he is so abominably cool. He will wait a month as
a concession to my wishes before making the engagement public, and
during that time she is to be left alone. He is neither to come here,
nor to write to her, and we will say nothing about it at home, so that
there may be as little unpleasantness as possible if it ends as we hope
it may. I had really no decent objection to make when he questioned me
on the subject. He is in a good position; his people