onstitootion. Elma's constitootion is nervy. What she needs is
re-pose. Perfect re-pose! If I were you, I'd send up a note to-morrow,
and stay quietly at home. It would naturally upset her some to see you,
and she'd recuperate quicker by herself."

But at this Mrs Ramsden drew herself up with a chilly dignity. She
must certainly see her child. It was her duty to see for herself how
matters progressed. In the matter of removal, she must be guided by
what she saw. ...

"Yes, 'um!" assented Cornelia, meekly.

She had said her say, and felt confident that Geoffrey Greville might
now be trusted to play his part. As she walked along the few yards
which separated The Holt from The Nook, she congratulated herself that
the worst half of her explanations were over; but in this reckoning she
was mistaken. Miss Briskett's displeasure was unsoftened by anxiety,
and was, moreover, accentuated by the remembrance that all this trouble
would have been averted if Cornelia had consented to accept Mrs Nevins'
invitation to tea in a reasonable and respectful manner. The girl had
refused to make herself amiable, had insisted upon driving a strange
horse over strange roads, in the face of expressed disapproval, and had
contrived to come to grief outside the very house of all others which
she was most desired to avoid! Cornelia was flighty enough already; the
only chance of keeping her in order was by introducing her to friends
who, by their quiet decorum, would exercise a restraining effect on her
demeanour. Symptoms of dissatisfaction had already set in--witness that
same rejected tea--and this afternoon's experience had established a
certain amount of intimacy, which would entail endless difficulties in
the future.

Poor Miss Briskett, she was indeed sorely tried! With her own eyes she
had beheld Cornelia driven up to the gate by a man who was even more
dangerous than the young Squire himself, inasmuch as he was often a
visitor in the Park for weeks at a time; his aunt being the proud
possessor of The Towers, the largest and most imposing of the crescent
houses. On the afternoon on which Cornelia's coming had first been
discussed, she herself had remarked to Mrs Ramsden that the girl must
be protected from an acquaintance with Captain Guest! It seemed almost
too exasperating to be borne that she should have effected an
introduction for herself within three short weeks of her arrival!

The spinster's sharp nose looked sh