shrieked as it passed his lips; I flew to my
little bag on the side table; I shook out all my
tracts; I seized the one particular tract on
profane swearing, entitled, "Hush for Heaven's
Sake!"; I handed it to him with an expression
of agonised entreaty. He tore it in two, and
threw it back at me across the table. The rest
of them rose in alarm, not knowing what might
happen next. I instantly sat down again in my
corner. There had once been an occasion,
under somewhat similar circumstances, when
Miss Jane Ann Stamper had been taken by the
two shoulders and turned out of a room. I
waited, inspired by her spirit, for a repetition
of her martyrdom.

But no—it was not to be. His wife was the
next person whom he addressed. "Who—
who—who," he said, stammering with rage,
"asked this impudent fanatic into the house?
Did you?"

Before Aunt Ablewhite could say a word,
Rachel answered for her:

"Miss Clack is here," she said, "as my
guest."

Those words had a singular effect on Mr.
Ablewhite. They suddenly changed him from
a man in a state of red-hot anger to a man in a
state of icy-cold contempt. It was plain to
everybody that Rachel had said something—
short and plain as her answer had been—which
gave him the upper hand of her at last.

"Oh?" he said. "Miss Clack is here as
your guest—in my house?"

It was Rachel's turn to lose her temper at
that. Her colour rose, and her eyes brightened
fiercely. She turned to the lawyer, and pointing
to Mr. Ablewhite, asked haughtily, "What
does he mean?"

Mr. Bruff interfered for the third time.

"You appear to forget," he said, addressing
Mr. Ablewhite, "that you took this house as
Miss Verinder's guardian, for Miss Verinder's
use."

"Not quite so fast," interposed Mr.
Ablewhite. "I have a last word to say, which I
should have said some time since, if this——"
He looked my way, pondering what abominable
name he should call me—"if this Rampant
Spinster had not interrupted us. I beg to
inform you, sir, that, if my son is not good enough
to be Miss Verinder's husband, I cannot
presume to consider his father good enough to be
Miss Verinder's guardian. Understand, if you
please, that I refuse to accept the position which
is offered to me by Lady Verinder's will. In
your legal phrase, I decline to act. This house
has necessarily been hired in my name. I take
the entire responsibility of it on my shoulders.
It is my house. I can keep it, or let it, just as
I please. I have no wish to hurry Miss
Verinder. On the contrary, I beg her to
remove her guest and her luggage, at her own
entire convenience." He made a low bow, and
walked out of the room.

That was Mr. Ablewhite's revenge on Rachel,
for refusing to marry his son!

The instant the door closed, Aunt
Ablewhite exhibited a phenomenon which silenced
us all. She became endowed with energy
enough to cross the room!

"My dear," she said, taking Rachel by the
hand, "I should be ashamed of my husband, if
I didn't know that it is his temper which has
spoken to you, and not himself. You,"
continued Aunt Ablewhite, turning on me in my
corner with another endowment of energy, in
her looks this time instead of her limbs—"you
are the mischievous person who irritated him.
I hope I shall never see you or your tracts
again." She went back to Rachel, and kissed
her. "I beg your pardon, my dear," she said,
"in my husband's name. What can I do for
you?"

Consistently perverse in everything—capricious
and unreasonable in all the actions of her
life—Rachel melted into tears at those commonplace
words, and returned her aunt's kiss in
silence.

"If I may be permitted to answer for Miss
Verinder," said Mr. Bruff, "might I ask you,
Mrs. Ablewhite, to send Penelope down with
her mistress's bonnet and shawl. Leave us
ten minutes together," he added, in a lower
tone, "and you may rely on my setting matters
right, to your satisfaction as well as to Rachel's."

The trust of the family in this man was
something wonderful to see. Without a word
more, on her side, Aunt Ablewhite left the
room.

"Ah!" said Mr. Bruff, looking after her.
"The Herncastle blood has its drawbacks, I
admit. But there is something in good breeding,
after all!"

Having made that purely worldly remark, he
looked hard at my corner, as if he expected
me to go. My interest in Rachel—an infinitely
higher interest than his—rivetted me to my
chair.

Mr. Bruff gave it up, exactly as he had given
it up at Aunt Verinder's, in Montagu Square.
He led Rachel to a chair by the window, and
spoke to her there.

"My dear young lady," he said, "Mr.
Ablewhite's conduct has naturally shocked you, and
taken you by surprise. If it was worth while
to contest the question with such a man, we
might soon show him that he is not to have
things all his own way. But it isn't worth
while. You were quite right in what you
said just now: he is beneath our notice."

He stopped, and looked round at my corner.
I sat there quite immovable, with my tracts at
my elbow, and with Miss Jane Ann Stamper on
my lap.

"You know," he resumed, turning back again,
to Rachel, "that it was part of your poor
mother's fine nature always to see the best of
the people about her, and never the worst.
She named her brother-in-law your guardian
because she believed in him, and because she
thought it would please her sister. I had never
liked Mr. Ablewhite myself, and I induced your
mother to let me insert a clause in the will,
empowering her executors, in certain events, to