anned every day--fishing, and bathing, and making
hay, and I shall be mewed up in a close carriage, and have meals of
nuts--and n-n-nobody to talk to. Oh, I can't--I can't bear it! I wish
I could die and be buried--I _cannot_ bear it--"

"You won't have to bear it. She'll choose me. I'm the eldest, and the
most of a companion." Clemence spoke with the calmness of despair, her
plump cheeks whitening visibly, her pale eyes showing a flush of red
around the lids. "Of course, if it's my duty, I must go--but I'd as
soon be sent to prison! I'm feeling _very_ tired, and thought the
holiday would set me up. Now, of course, I shall be worse. Eight weeks
alone with Aunt Maria would try anybody's nerves. I shall be a wreck
all winter, and have neuralgia till I'm nearly mad."

"Nonsense, darling! If you are so tired, the rest and quiet of The
Towers will be just what you need; and as we don't know yet which one of
you Aunt Maria will wish as a companion, it is a pity for you all to
make yourselves miserable at once. Why not try to forget, and hope for
the best! Surely that would be the wiser plan."

The three girls looked at each other in eloquent silence. Easy to talk.
Forget, indeed. As if they _could_! Mother didn't really believe what
she said. She was making the best of it, and there were occasions when
making the best of it seemed just the most aggravating thing one could
do.

It was a relief to the girls when Mrs Garnett was summoned from the
room on household business, and they were left to themselves. A craving
for sympathy was the predominant sensation, and prompted the suggestion,
"Let's wire to the Vernons," which was followed by a stampede upstairs.
The telegraph was a sufficiently new institution to appear a pleasure
rather than a toil, even though a message thus dispatched was an
infinitely longer and more laborious effort than a run round the
terrace, so to-day a leaf was torn from the note-book, a dramatic
announcement penned and placed in the hanging-bag, with its jingling
bell of warning, and the three girls took it in turns to pull at the
cord till the missive arrived at its destination. Attracted by the
sound of the bell, Vie and plain Hannah stood at the window awaiting the
communication, read over its contents, and stood silent and dismayed.
The Garnetts, watching from afar, realised the dramatic nature of that
pause, and thrilled in sympathy.

"_One of us is going to be sent to prison