Audrey Ferris. A novel

Front matter

a move i. BY FRANCES A. GERARD. " I know her ; the worst thought she has Is whiter even than her pretty hand. . She must prove true ; for, brother, where to fight ' The strongest wins,' and truth and love are strength, And you are happy." — Tennyson. LONDON: WARD AND DOWNEY 12 YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W.C. [All rights of translation and reproduction reserved} 1889. S. Cotraii dCo., Print,,-*, Perth. WARD & DOWNEY'S ONE YOLUME NOVELS. SIX SHILLING NOVELS. DESPERATE REMEDIES. By Thomas Hardy. THE WYVERN MYSTERY. By J. Sheridan Le Fanu. THE STRANGEST JOURNEY OF MY LIFE. By F. Pigot. IDLE TALES. By Mrs. Riddell. ROBERT HOLT'S ILLUSION. By Mary Lin-skill. GRETCHEN. By Rita. JOHN 0' LONDON. By Somerville Gibney. THE STORY OF ANTHONY GRACE. By G. Manville Fenn. AT THE RED GLOVE. By K. S. Macquoid.

HIS HELPMATE. By Frank Barrett. *MRS. RUMBOLD'S SECRET. By Mrs. Macquoid. •THE NUN'S CURSE. By Mrs. Riddell. ♦THE MASTER OFTHE CEREMONIES. ByG. Manville Fenn. •THE ALIENS. By Henry F. Keenan. *LIL LO RIMER. By Theo. Gift. •THE CHILCOTES. By Leslie Keith. '"Uniformly bound in red doth gilt. FIVE SHILLING NOVELS. A PRINCE OF THE BLOOD. By James Payn. THE CURSE OF KOSHIU. By the Hon. Lewis Wingfield. (JL0R1NDA. By Anna Bowman Dodd. NIGEL FORTESCUE. By William Westall. JOHN BROWN AND LARRY7 LOHENGRIN. ByWit. Westall. THREE-AND SIXPENNY NOVELS. IN JEOPARDY. By G. Manville Fenn. DIANA BARRINGTON. By B. M. Croker. ANCHOR WATCH YARNS. By F. M. Allen. MARVEL. By the Author of " Molly Bawn." LOGIE TOWN. By Sarah Tytler. THE LAST HURDLE: A STORY OF SPORTING AND COURTING. By Fkank Hudson. THE FOX AND THE GOOSE: A Storyof the Curragh of Kildare.

A MODERN CIRCE. Bv the Author of " Molly Bawn." THE NEW RIVER. By Somerville Gibney. •THE MYSTERY OF KILLARD. By Richard Dowling. •CATCHING A TARTAR. By G. W. Appleton. *THE TRAGEDY OF FEATHERSTONE. By B. L. Farjeon. ♦PASSAGES IN THE LIFE OF A LADY. By Hamilton Aide •IN LUCK'S WAY. By Byron Webber. •MISS ELVESTER'S GIRLS. By M. W. Paxton. •WHERE TEMPESTS BLOW. By M. W. Paxton. •THE DIAMOND LENS. By Fitzjames O'Brien. •FROZEN HEARTS. By G. W. Appleton. •JACK ALLYN'S FRIENDS. By G. W. Appleton. •LIEUTENANT BARNABAS. By Frank Barrett. Three-and-Sixpenny Kovete — continued. •TWO PINCHES OF SNUFF. By William Westall. •THE CONFESSIONS OF A COWARD AND COQUETTE. By the Author of " The Parish of Hilby." •IN ONE TOWN. By E. Downey. *ATLA. By Mrs. J. Gregory Smith. •LESS THAN KIN. By J. E. Panton. •COMEDIES FROM A COUNTRY SIDE.

Introduction

.

— THE COURT. Far down in the southern counties of England there are many old family seats and manor-houses, which for picturesque beauty and lovely surroundings are not to be matched. One of these is Ferris Court. Generations of Ferrises have lived there ; the house itself, dating back some four hundred years or more, bears upon it, as such places do, a sort of trade-mark, as it might be, of age and respecta bility. Like to some ancient dame witb wrinkled front and battered face, but who has secrets untold locked away in her withered breast, the Court is full of traditions, ghosts of departed joys, dead and gone sorrows. It is bursting with family secrets, A has chests of 3-ellow parchments, stores of old letters (over which oceans of tears were once shed), and family pictures with stories to match their faces, and some faces whose stories had best not be told.

The house itself is wonderfully unpretentious for the family it represents. As you come upon it from the long drive or avenue through the park, your first idea is disappointment. So much approach to so simple a dwelling ; rough-cast smallpaned, many-gabled, the Court is nothing more than a manor-house, irregularly built, added to here and there, according to the wants or fancies of the different possessors for the time being. Whatever may be its faults, however, of style or architecture, Ferris Court is one of those places which grow upon you day by day, much as some dearly loved faces do whose features do not stand the test of criticism. The world and its hurly-burly seem so far from its quiet shades ; an infinite calm rests upon its broad meadows, a sense of solitude lies in the far-stretching woods which border the demesne.

There is a kind of holy peace all over the place, a monastic air it might be, and this idea is heightened by the presence of the church, whicli stands close to the house itself, behind it the quaint family burying-ground, with the queer old tombs where lie the Ferrises of many generations, God's peace with them. It has always been a superstition amongst them that they could not rest unless brought back to the friendly shelter of their own home ; for a strong love of the Court is part of the Ferris creed. They have never sold an acre of it, even the wildest amongst them holding fast by the old place. The last owner, Sir Paul, is no exception: be loves every stick and stone of it. To him it is full of tender memories, sad associations. As he sits by himself in the library, a thoughtful, sad-eyed old man, the heavy curtains which hang over his past lift themselves.

He sees again his young wife, he hears his children's voices — their footsteps are on the stairs, their kisses are on his lips. They are gone from him for ever. There only remains to him one little link, one blossom not cut away — a fair delicate girl, his grandchild and heiress. It is her story I am about to tell — the story of Audrey Ferris — but before doing so, I must go back a little on the road, and tell you something more about the Court and its inhabitants.

Chapter I

The Ferrises of Ferris Court were Catholics, old in the faith— not converts, not brands snatched from the burning fire of Protestanism, but staunch Pa pists, unyielding as the Pope himself. In the days of Canute there had been an Abbot Paul of the house : there were Knio-hts Crusaders and Knio-hts Templars, and every Order in the three kingdoms had been supplied by the fairest daughters and the best men of the race of Ferris. All through the troublous times of the Refor mation, through the sad days of Charles Stuart, the Ferrises were loyal to their king, true to their faith. This was their boast — they would tell it to you with out any show of pride, and we would be bound to believe them on the evidence given prima, facie — by the dates on the family pictures, by the old tombs of the Crusaders who lie side by side in tlie church — poor mutilated old things, with toes broken off and noses very much out of shape, but standing memorials of the antiquity of the Ferrises.

Sir Paul was very proud of these old fellows ; he railed them in, and put a brass plate over against them, to show in what honour he held them. Just over this plate is the tombstone set into the wall of the Lady Audley Ferris whose high virtues and " awful condescension" had made her, when in life, revered by high and low. Audrey Ferris, as a child, would look at the marble effigy of this august lady and wonder within herself what was meant by tlie words " awful condescension." It seemed to her infant mind a contradiction. The besetting sin of the Ferris race was pride, not the vulgar upsetting pride of yourjyarven u, but an inner self -glorification springing from the con sciousness that they were not delft, like ordinary mortals, but the real oldpdte tendre, who had never soiled their fingers with trade, never defiled their noble name by aught unfit for gentlemanly bearing.

Such as they were they were nearly played out. Sir Paul was the last of his line — a sad thinoal- O ways. He had not made much of his life, especially the latter part of it ; the people round the Court said that since the death of his last son, and that son's young wife, the baronet had never raised his head. It might be that this apparent prostration of bodily and mental powers was, in a measure, part of Sir Paul's character, which w-as at all times tinged with morbid melancholy, to which, now that he was heavily stricken, he gave way unchecked. It seemed to him that it was almost a duty to cul tivate his sorrow, and did so cultivate it for years ; he shut himself up in the Court, a sad, solitary mourner. His grief, so genuine, so unaffected, touched the heart of everyone ; the hand of sym pathy was stretched out on all sides, but in no case so freely as by the fair sex.

Many of these, young, middle-aged, maid and widow, would have deemed it a special mission to devote themselves to the lonely recluse at the Court : but its gates were ob stinately shut against them ; only a very few chosen friends were admitted, and these w-ere principally priests of his own faith. They came generally at the season of the year when the Catholic Church enjoins special prayers for the dead. On these occasions there was great ceremonial at the Court. The church Avas draped in black, lights innumer able burned on the altars, and masses without end were said. Although the country round Ferris was principally inhabited by Church of England con gregations, such was the respect felt for the Ferris family that their " All Souls " was attended by high and low in the neighbourhood, everyone feel ing it was a tribute to the survivor thus to mourn with him for his lost hopes.

At first the baronet knelt in the family pew alone, his white drawn face, his stooped figure, his earnest prayers filling every heart with pity. But as time went on, a little girl with a broad black sash and black shoulder-knots knelt beside him — a grave, large-eyed, angelic-looking child, preternaturally solemn in her ways, atten tive as a young saint to her prayers. This was Aud rey, the Baronet's darling, and the heiress of his far stretching lands, his vast wealth. It was only by degrees that she had taken a hold of the poor afflicted heart which had been so cruelly tried. At first, Sir Paul refused to see her. He tried to steel himself against the approaches of the baby intruder. A udrey Ferris. 17 " I will not give my heart to any worldly affection," he said ; " God has been pleased to take all I held dear.

I shall attach myself no more, but wait for my meeting with them in that country where there will be no more tears." But these were words, of course. Which of us, were he even a savage, could resist the approaches of a child, and above all, such a child as Audrey ? Before she was three years old she was firmly established as queen of the whole household at the Court. She ruled every creature in it, from her grandfather to the garden-boy who led her pony. Upon her turned the whole domestic economy of the establishment. This sort of power is apt to spoil the most per fect character, and Audrey, at this stage of her existence, was anything but perfect. She would be no heroine of mine if she had not a great many faults, and some of these were, no doubt, due to her early training. She Avas of an affectionate nature, however, ready to take her grandfather, her nurse, her dog, and her pony all into her heart, and giving each the most violent demonstrations of her liking.

Her future was a matter of the B greatest anxiety to seA'eral excellent ladies liA-ing in the neighbourhood of the Court. These kind creatures had felt for the Baronet in his sorrow ; they Avere equally ready to help him in the work of educating his grand-daughter. A man, and an elderly man — there was no denying Sir Paul was advanced — to have the charge of a child — a female child ; it Avas a situation that cried out for a remedy ! This remedy Avas at hand in the person of a widow lady aa-1io had set herself doAA-n before the gates of Ferris Court and A-owed that she Avould make good her entrance there. Mrs. Middleton had the soul of a Prime Minister. She loA-ed direction. She commanded eA-eryAvhere. Her late husband had ne\-er known what it was to possess his own Avill even in the matter of his death.

Mrs. Middleton Avas A-ery much aggrieved at his dying. She said he Avould not do so, and had convinced him of the impropriety of his enter taining such a notion some short time before he expired. Her natural grief Avas tempered by astonishment at his disobeying her orders. He left her badly off, principally through following A udrey Ferris. 19 her instructions about A-arious investments. Mrs. Middleton considered herself to have been ill treated by Fortune; the plums of the great orchard had never fallen to her. She had been always obliged to stand by while they dropped into the mouths of others by no means as deserving as herself, and this she was determined to alter, so .she came and sat herself doAvn under the wing of Ferris Court. Her ostensible reason (you must state your reason for investing a town) Avas her religion.

She was persecuted by her relations for changing her faith ! This Avas true in a measure, barring the persecution, and it Avas an excellent lever for unearthing the Baronet ; it brought him out of his shell, and induced him to call upon Mrs. Middleton to offer his assistance, and the widoAv AA-as Avise enough to keep the ball going. This, an excellent maxim in all flirtation, is sadly neglected nowadays. There AA7ould be more marriages if *' the ball were kept going." Not that it availed much in Mrs. Middleton's case. Sir Paul Avas courteous, kind, even generous, but nothing warmer could be elicited from him, and with much pain and affliction of spirit the widow owned herself beaten ; but this Avas not for many years. Mrs.. Middleton Avas a very enthusiastic person; she was. one of those neAv brooms wliich sAveep clean every thing but themselves.

Not many years a convert. she could have taught bishops, priests, nay, even the Pope himself, their duty. On one occasion.. indeed, she had thought of undertaking a journey to Rome, in order to point out to the then Pontiff what she considered wrong in the Church. A tall, thin AA-oman, with a clear complexion, no eyebroAvs to speak of, and a very marked nose : there was nothing of the tender, shrinking widow o 3 o about her. She made it her boast that she never shirked " her duty." This word Avas neA-er out of her mouth ; it Avas a flag she hoisted on every opportunity, and it must be confessed her manner of displaying it did not incline many to enlist under her banner. You Avould be more disposed to desert from a general Avhose tactics were so unpleasing. In the first instance, she conceived it her duty to teach all their religion, and in Mrs. Middleton's hands religion became a terrorism.

It Avas a rod which she laid unsparingly on the shoulders of any sinner, social or otherwise. Did a poor, ignorant servant girl stray a little from the path wherein she should walk, Mrs. Middleton's duty pointed to instant denunciation. Did an untaught and frightened child venture on some trivial un truth or petty theft, down came Mrs. Middleton's scourge. It was her duty instantly to inflict punishment ; in truth, her religion Avas all punish ment ; mercy she put out of court. She never was so pleased as Avhen she had drawn a thrilling picture of hell's torments, Avith Avhich she fright ened some juA7enile offender. To this lady, Audrey's bringing up Avas a matter of great interest. " She would have wished," she said, " that the poor child had the same advantages as her Olive ; for it is grievous," she went on, " to see the Avay Sir Paul spoils her, and Father Selby is not much better.

The Avhole establishment too is going to wreck, Avith no proper supervision. I think it is only my duty to point things out to Sir Paul ; but his eyes are blinded. Olive, sit straight; Iioav often must I tell you that it's your duty to make as much of God's gift as you can ? " Olive, a girl of about nine years old, moved in obedience to the maternal command. She was a handsome child, with much promise of suture beauty ; but she Avas wanting in the natural grace and abandon of her age ; and the constant chiding* of her mother had made of her that most detestable of all things, a young hypocrite ; for cunning is the general result of tyranny, and Mrs. Middleton Avas an undeniable tyrant. From her childhood, Olive had been little Audrey's pla}7felloAAand companion. The difference in their ages gaA-e Olive the superiority, and she aA-ailed herself of it to tyrannise, in her turn, OA-er the AA-eaker A-essel.

In truth, it was only in obedience to her mothers orders that the young lady condescended to stoop to be companion of so childish a creature. Reading one of the modern novels, or talking to the servants, Avas more to her tastes than playing cat's-cradle or hide-and go-seek AA-ith the little heiress. But Mrs. Middleton was for ever putting before her daughter that it Avas "her duty" to make herself friends; whose A udrey Ferris. 23 Avorldly advantages might make up for the Avant in her oaa-u social position. " How often must I tell you that, thanks to your father's imprudence and AA-ant of thought in dying as he did, Ave are positively beggars ? I am sure I don't know Iioaa7 you are to get your educa tion, unless you pick it up. I do my duty, Heaven knoAA-s ; but there never Avas a mother so tried as I am.

Why don't you get Matchings to teach you to ride on Audrey's pony ? " " Matchings Avon't do anything for me. I heard him say the other day that we Avere a mean lot ; and that you were ahvays prying and meddling in Avhat didn't concern you." " Did he say so ? " and Mrs. Middleton s clear complexion Avas suddenly heightened. " Well, you never mind that ; you shall learn to ride, but not from Matchings. I have long been thinking of opening Sir Paul's eyes about Matchings ; and it will be my duty to do it ; not from anger, Olive ; thank God I can bear these things patiently. Always tell me Avhen you hear the servants say anything of the sort ; but don't listen, Olive ; it is a most unladylike habit, and would be thought dreadful if you were found out." With these wise ' counsels, Mrs. Middleton left her daughter and proceeded to the Court, for the purpose of opening Sir Paul's eyes.

It Avas a pro cess she took great pleasure in, and there were few days in which she did not make her appearance for that purpose. The presence of the church gaA'e her an ostensible reason for frequenting the Court : ancl snow, frost, or rain, she was ahA-ays there for daily Mass, with her spectacles on her nose, her inc|uisitiA7e eyes peering at everything. In an evil hour Father Selby had giA'en her the office of sacristan, and from that moment the unfortunate clergyman knew no peace. She Avas perpetually suggesting, improving, and finding fault. Father Selby did not come up to her ideas. " He is an excellent man, of course — not a word can be said against him ; but he is wanting. Not the light man in the right place. Twenty years here and nothing done ; not a single con\-ert made, and the rubric only imperfectly folloAved."

What the widow meant by the rubric Avas only knoAA-nto herself. She had a stock of these phrases, AAdiich sounded well to the uninitiated, but would not have borne sifting. Father Selby, a gentle, simple-minded being, Avho had lived as chaplain at the Court for many years, AA-as no match for Mrs. Middleton, especially as her apparent zeal made it hard to grapple with her. She was for eA-er busy with good works, one of her faA7ourite pursuits being the adornment of the church, and as her taste was of the most question able kind, these improvements took the shape of eyesores. She Avorked gaudy borders wherewith to decorate the altars ; sho made hideous bunches of artificial floAvers, and stuck them all about ; she cleaned the mediæval brasses, and made them un sightly. She was actually preparing to paint the church itself, only that Father Selby, in despair, called in Sir Paul to the rescue, and between them they managed to banish the pots and brushes of this energetic lady.

They Avould have been glad enough to banish her, but that AA7as an impossibility. She was firmly rooted in the village of Ferris, Avhere she lived in a pretty cottage, a free gift to her by the Baronet, in the clays AA-hen " her perse cutions" had made her an object of his generous compassion. It may seem strange that a man of Sir Paul's temperament could for a moment have tolerated a woman like Mrs. Middleton, Avhose brusque manner of speech ancl action Avere so eminently unsuited to him ; but, being a sensitive gentleman, he Avas, in a certain sense, " taken in " by her apparent devotion to little Audrey, and to this Avas added a sense of gratitude. In the first days of his sorrow, and when the child Avas only a few months old, she had been seized Avith one of those infantine disorders which seem so terrible be cause so mysterious.

Sir Paul was beside himself, so was Father Selby, so was the entire household. The only person who kept her head AA'as Mrs. Middleton, Avho happened to be on the spot. She was clever in childish illness, and her want of heart gave her the necessary coolness to relieA-e the little sufferer. Her conduct earned the Baronet's gratitude, and although at the time he presented her A-ery substantial proofs that he Avas grateful, she took care, by perpetual reminders, to keep his memory green on the subject. She was perpetually alluding to " My child ; " " the clay I saved that sweet angel's life ; she and Olive share my heart ; I hardly knoAv a difference betAA'een them ; " and such-like speeches, Avhich impressed the Baronet with a certainty that, Avhatever her shortcomings otherwise might be, Mrs. Middleton AA-as a true friend to Audrey.

OA-er and aboA7e this, she was, in some respects, a pleasant neighbour ; she could take a hand at whist, the only amusement Sir Paul enjoyed, and played a good game of piquet. In the country these are advantages not to be overlooked ; besides which, Olive knew hoAv to amuse Audrey, and anything that contributed to his darling's Avell-b^ing was allpoAverful with the Baronet. The contempt with Avhich Miss Middleton regarded her little playfellow was not shared by Audrey. The generous, warm-hearted child adored her superior ; she shared her toys, her pleasures, everything she had with Olive. She thought her the most Avonderful beingin the world. In childish love, as in that of later years, there is une qui baise et I'autre qui tend la joue; it is a great question Avhether the first is not the happier of the tAvo.

Chapter II

Mrs. Middleton was not a favourite at Ferris Court ; it Avasn't alone Matchings, but others in the household, aa-Iio thought she Avas " no lady," but a "prying, interfering, mischief-making thing." "She comes after the Bar'net, that is my belief," said Mr. Bridges, Sir Paul's man ; Avhich remark Mrs. Perks the head nurse, answered by " Like her impudence ! She Avas nothingbut a governess sort ; and the poor foolish young man who married her never regretted it but all the days of his life. I have heard Lady Augusta a-talking of the whole affair Avith master." " Ah, that's the real lady ; it's a pleasure when she comes. The haristocracy are always genteel \ none of your mean ways which come nateral to your Ioaalot." " I wonders hahvays how they bemean them selves, marryin' them sort," put in a pretty housemaid, on whom Mrs. Middleton had her eye.

" Likes to likes is my motto, Mrs. Perks." " You mind your business, Mary," returned that dignitary, " ancl don't intrude your remarks till Avanted." " I declare if there ain't ' old Middy ' comin' hup the havenue ! " struck in Bridges, with an air of intense disgust, " and just in puddin' time. She's that mean she'll be askin' me for the cold 'am, that she will." It Avas Mrs. Middleton's custom when she came to the Court to make a tour of inspection, beginning Avith the nursery and ending Avith Sir Paul's study. She made a great merit of this act of friendship, and was duly thanked by the Baronet, who, as I said before, belieA-ed in her interest in him ancl his, otherwise he would not have tolerated the constant intrusion of a Avoman whose loud voice and brusque ways set the nerves of the gentle old man all on edge.

Her voice was discordant in his ears, and the stream of domestic gossip Avith which she entertained him highly distasteful to his sensitive organisation ; but he put up Avith her principally because he saw no Avay of ridding himself of the nuisance Avithout hurting her feelings, and that he could not clo to the meanest servant in his house. Mrs. Middleton generally made her entrance after she had lunched in the dining-room. Her bonnet-strings Avould be thrown back, her lips greasy, her breath smelling of the meat ancl wine which had flushed her face and strengthened her nerves. She Avould plump herself doAA-n on a chair next him, ancl talk into his ear ; for Sir Paul Avas just a little deaf, and sorely tormented by the sIoav emphasis and crescendo Mrs. Middleton affected. " I know well what it is to be Avith a person hard of hearing," she would say; "all the Middletons are sluggish in the ears.

I am afraid of my Olive, and I make Dr. Cox syringe her twice a week. General Middleton, my husband's father, AA-as as deaf as a post ; but he ahvays heard me — it's a gift I have. You find no difficulty ; I'll speak slower if you like. I haA-e a great deal to say this mornino-, Sir Paul. I am sorry to tell you that Marj-, the housemaid, is not a fit young person to have in the house — you'll have to dismiss her. Of course it's not pleasant for me to tell you such things ; but I take an interest in you and the dear child, whose life I saved, under God, of course, ancl I do my duty — my duty, Sir Paul." The Baronet boAA-ed his head, and put up one of his thin hands. " Thank you, my dear madam," he ansAvered, in his calm subdued A-oice ; " but I think you mistake. Father Selby thinksA-eryAA7ellof Mary."

" Father Selby ! I Avouldn't give you that for Father Selby ! " ancl Mrs. Middleton snapped her fingers into the Baronet's ears, making him shiver. " He is as innocent as one of those sheep out there. My dear Sir Paul, Mary is carrying on a flirtation with Matchings, and he a married man ! a married man ! " Mrs. Middleton sat back in her chair, and looked at Sir Paul triumphantly. She was greatly pleased at the hopeless expression that spread itself over his face. " Are you quite sure ? " he questioned, moving away from his tormentor. " Perhaps you mistake. Matchings is a most respectable man. He has lived with me many years." " He is not so respectable as you think, Sir Paul. This affair of Mary's is not the first ; there A\7as Susan Jenkins, a bad business." Mrs. Middleton drew in her lips with a pleasant smack.

" Besides, I am afraid he drinks. I only think it right to mention this to you, as Matchings will be teaching our darling Audrey to ride, and I think you'll agree with me Ave can't be too particular." Sir Paul reflected for a minute. " I shall dismiss Matchings," he said ; " but I don't see any necessity to part with the girl, Mrs. Middleton. I shouldn't like, unless there were grave reasons, to send her away under a cloud. A girl's good name is everything to her." " You are too good," the AvidoAV said, with a shrug of her shoulders, "but Matchings is of course the Avorst. I'll keep my eye on Mary, and if there is anything wrong, I'll let you know." There was a pause. Sir Paul fingered his book ; he was anxious for quiet, longing for the objection able presence to be removed ; but Mrs. Middleton had more to say.

" I came up here to-day partly to speak about Mary, ancl also for another reason. I Avant to talk to you about Audrey. You know how I love that child — Avhy shouldn't I ? I may say that, under God, I saA-ed her life, and to see her groAving up is a happiness. Olive, too, loves her like a sister. ' Mother,' she says to me often, ' Avhy don't Ave haA-e Audrey to live Avith us altogether ? You Avould care for her ancl look after her so much better than Mrs. Perks.' She doesn't understand, poor child, that a home like mine Avould be quite unsuited to Audrey ; at the same there's no doubt she wants looking after." Mrs. Middleton said these words very distinctly, fixing the Baronet like a basilisk. She had told herself that on this occasion she Avould not be mealy-mouthed, and she was determined to keep her Avord.