"my dear lady george dubec" [wrote mrs. clinton], "my husband and i will be glad if you will come to us here when you return to meadshire, which dick tells me will be next wednesday. we shall be pleased to welcome you at kencote and to make your acquaintance. we shall be pleased also to see miss dexter, and perhaps you will kindly tell her so, and let me know if she will accompany you.

"with kindest regards to yourself and to her,

"believe me,

"very sincerely yours,

"nina clinton."

"there!" said virginia, tossing this missive over to her companion. she had opened dick's much longer letter, which had come by the same post, first of all, and half-way through its perusal had searched for mrs. clinton's amongst the rest. now she returned to dick's, while miss dexter read mrs. clinton's.

"what on earth does it all mean?" asked miss dexter. "has the world come to an end, or has that preposterous old bear come to his senses at last?"

"it means, my dear toby," said virginia, looking up at her with a happy smile, "that all this horrible business is at an end. dick has fought, and dick has won. and we owe everything to the help that his dearest of dear mothers has given us. i knew i should love that woman from the first time i set eyes on her, and now i adore her. three cheers for mrs. clinton."

she waved dick's letter over her head. miss dexter looked down again at mrs. clinton's, and then again in dry surprise at her friend. "and do you really mean to tell me," she asked, "that you are satisfied with this as an atonement for everything they have made you go through? i never read such a letter—as cold and unwilling as she is herself. i'll tell you what will happen, virginia, if you go to kencote. you will simply be insulted. do you think people like that can change? not a bit of it. 'kindest regards,' indeed! she may keep her kindest regards to herself as far as i'm concerned."

"oh, toby, don't be so tiresome!" virginia adjured her. "you know you're just as pleased as i am—or very nearly. shall we go straight to kencote from london, or go to bathgate and leave some things at blaythorn and pick up some others? i think we'll do that. i must take my smartest frocks, and so must you. for you are really quite presentable if you would only give yourself a chance."

"you may leave me out of it," said miss dexter. "i'm as likely to go to kencote as i am to windsor castle. if you like to put your head into the bear's den and say 'thank you for having tried to eat me up, and now by all means finish me off,' you can. i have a little more self-respect, and nothing would induce me to go near those people."

"ah!" said virginia, "you are still huffy because mrs. clinton snubbed you. quite right of her! you are a dear, loyal, faithful creature, and i know you would follow me to much more terrible places than kencote, where you will find yourself in a week's time; but you had no business to go interfering without consulting me about it. i'm too fond of you to snub you, as you so often deserve, so i'm quite pleased when other people do it for me."

"yes, that's all i get for trying to help you," said miss dexter. "what do you suppose has happened? has captain dick told them that you have money? that's the only thing i can think of that would make that purse-proud old lunatic change his mind."

"he doesn't say anything about that, and i'm sure he hasn't told them. i shall tell mr. clinton, and it will make him love me even more than i'm going to make him as it is. i know i'm talking nonsense, but in the state of mind i find myself in at present that can't be helped. no, toby dear, it is mrs. clinton who has done it all. my dick says so. she was always on our side. she liked the look of me, toby, odd as it may seem to you; and if she could have got round the old bear's prejudices—but i mustn't call him that any longer—she would have done so before. i knew i was right about her. it was the only thing i didn't quite like about dick—that he seemed always to think she was of no account. now he has come round, and my cup of happiness is brimming over. oh, toby, i've never been so happy in my life before." she put her handkerchief to her eyes, but she smiled gaily through her tears.

"quite so," returned miss dexter, unmoved by this show of emotion. "you're all for the moment. next week, when you are alone amongst them all, and they show you what they really think of you, you will never have been so miserable in your life. people like that don't change. they haven't got it in them. and you are laying up a most uncomfortable time for yourself. i give you solemn warning. i know what i'm talking about. i'm not carried away by sentiment as you are. don't go, virginia. don't make yourself cheap."

"my dear," said virginia in gentle seriousness, "if i were really making myself cheap by going to kencote, i would go, if dick asked me to. i can never be cheap to him. he'll be there, and nothing that can happen will touch me. but nothing will happen—nothing disagreeable. why should you think so?"

miss dexter threw out her hands. "oh, when you talk like that!" she said. "well, go, my dear, and good luck go with you."

"you are my good luck, and you will go with me," said virginia. "now, toby darling, don't say no. you have done so much for me. surely you can do this."

"i suppose i can," said miss dexter after a short pause. "but if mrs. clinton thinks i'm going to fall into her arms after her treatment of me, she'll find herself mistaken. and if the worst comes to the worst i can tell mr. clinton what i think of him. i should like an opportunity of doing that. yes, i'll come, virginia."

they went straight to kencote from london, the state of virginia's travelling wardrobe having been decided to be capable of answering all necessary calls on it, and miss dexter having declared that if she appeared as a dowdy, she would find others to keep her company at kencote in spite of the airs they gave themselves.

at the railway terminus humphrey clinton came up to them. "hulloa!" he said in the somewhat off-hand manner he adopted towards most ladies of his acquaintance. "going back to blaythorn?"

"no," said virginia. "we are going to kencote. so are you, i suppose? we will travel down together, and you shall smoke to me."

miss dexter's sharp eyes were upon him, and she saw him flinch, although virginia did not. it was the merest twitch of a muscle, and he had recovered himself instantly. "that's first class," he said. "and this seems to be first class too. shall we get in here?"

"that nice-looking porter with the grey beard has found us a carriage," said virginia. "if we all three spread ourselves over it nobody will come in, and you can smoke when once the train has started."

"you had better sit at the other end of the carriage, then," said humphrey, "and pull your veil down, or else everybody will want to come in."

"now, toby, don't you call that a perfectly lovely speech?" asked virginia.

miss dexter emitted a sound indicative of scorn, but made no verbal reply, and they walked down the platform. a lady with spectacles, an unbecoming felt hat and a short skirt, was coming towards them, and as they approached one another she and miss dexter exclaimed, simultaneously, and then shook hands with expressions of pleasure. miss dexter then introduced the lady with the spectacles to virginia, as an old schoolfellow, janet phipp, whom she had not met for years and years, and who had not changed in the least in the meantime, and asked her where she was going.

"i am going to a place called kencote," said miss phipp; "as governess," she added uncompromisingly, with an eye on virginia's fur and feathers and humphrey's general air of opulence.

"oh, but that's where we are all going!" cried virginia. "how jolly! and this is mr. humphrey clinton, the brother of your pupils."

humphrey shook hands with miss phipp. "you'll find them a rare handful," he said.

"that won't worry me in the least," said miss phipp.

"we'll all travel down together," said virginia, "and you shall be told all about the twins. i've never met them, and i'm dying to."

"i'm going second class," said miss phipp, and miss dexter said, "i'll go with you. virginia, i shall just have time to change my ticket." she dashed off to the booking-office.

"that's so like toby," said virginia. "always impulsive. she might have thought of changing miss phipp's ticket. what was she like at school, the dear thing?"

"excellent at mathematics," replied miss phipp. "languages weak, as far as i remember."

the train slipped off on its two hours' non-stop run, with virginia and humphrey in one carriage and miss dexter and miss phipp in another. the two ladies had much to say to one another as to the course of their respective lives since they had last met. miss phipp's career had been one of arduous work, punctuated by continental trips and an occasional period of bad health. "i suppose i have worked too hard," she said. "the doctors all say so, although i can't say i've ever been aware of it while i've actually been working. if i can't work i'd just as soon not live, and i've always had just the work that suited me. it's a blow to have to give it up. if it hadn't been for my health i should have been head-mistress of a big school long ago, and i'd have shown them what women's education could be. now i've got to settle down to take two girls instead of two hundred, and i suppose if i try to teach them anything i shall be thwarted at every turn. girls ought to be sent to school. i've no opinion of home education, and these two don't seem to have been taught anything. i'm low about it, margaret. still, i've got to do it, for a bit anyhow, and if they've got any brains i'll knock something into them, if i'm allowed to. however, we needn't worry ourselves about all that now. what have you been doing? leading a life of luxury and gaiety, i suppose."

the smile with which she asked her question was affectionate. she had been a big girl at the school when margaret dexter had been a little one, and had mothered her. margaret dexter's father had been a consulting physician with a large practice. she had lived in different surroundings from most of her school-fellows.

"i've always had rather more luxury than i cared about," replied miss dexter. "as for gaiety, i don't care about that at all. i'm not cut out for it."

her companion regarded her with more attention than she had yet bestowed. "you have grown to look very sensible," she said.

"thanks," replied miss dexter. "that means that my appearance is not prepossessing. i've always known that, and it doesn't bother me a bit."

miss phipp laughed. "it is all coming back to me," she said. "at first, except that your face is much the same, i should hardly have recognised you for the little girl i used to be so fond of. but you haven't altered, margaret. you are just as direct as ever. i believe i first taught you to be direct."

"if you did, you had easy ground to work on," replied miss dexter.

"i suppose i had. but aren't you doing anything, margaret? you're not just spending your life like other rich people—going about and amusing yourself? you weren't like that as a child."

"i'm not rich," returned miss dexter. "my father died too young to make a lot of money. and as for doing something, i'm companion to lady george dubec."

miss phipp was visibly taken aback. "oh!" she exclaimed; and after a pause said, "i'm sorry. still, if you're obliged to earn your living, i should have thought you might have done something more useful than going out as a companion to a lady of fashion."

miss dexter coloured and then laughed. "it's all coming back to me too," she said. "that's what you used to call talking straight, and we used to call janet's manners. if it is any comfort to you to know it, i don't have to earn my own living—i only said i wasn't rich. i live with virginia dubec because i love her, and i share some of the expenses. i'll tell you how much i pay if you like."

"oh, don't be silly," said miss phipp. "you said you were her companion, and i took that to mean what anybody would. then you're not doing anything, and i'm sorry for it. however, we needn't quarrel about that. what are these people like i'm going to? i've seen mrs. clinton, and on the whole i like her."

"well, i don't," said miss dexter, "and if i weren't such a fool as to follow virginia about wherever she wants to go to, as if she were a baby, i shouldn't go within a mile of mrs. clinton. i don't mind telling you, as you're bound to find out for yourself directly you get to kencote, that virginia is going to marry captain clinton, the eldest son, and the whole family have hitherto turned up their stupid noses at her. now he seems to have persuaded them to inspect her and see whether she'll do, after all. she's worth a hundred of the whole lot of them put together, except, perhaps, captain clinton himself, who has behaved fairly well. no, i'll do him justice—he's behaved quite well. he's all right. but mrs. clinton—well, you say you like her, but you'll see; as for mr. clinton, he's the most odious, purse-proud, blood-proud, ignorant old pig you'll find anywhere."

"h'm!'" commented miss phipp drily. "seems a nice sort of family i'm going to. what's that youth travelling with your lady virginia, or whatever her name is—what's he like?"

"what he looks like," replied miss dexter shortly.

"and the girls i'm going to teach?"'

"i don't know them, and don't want to."

"but you will, if you're going to stay in the house. and you must have heard about them."

"well, i believe they're rather fun," admitted miss dexter grudgingly. "and they're reported to be clever. still, they've been boxed up at home all their lives, and can't know much. i expect you'll have your work cut out."

"they'll have their work cut out," returned miss phipp grimly, "and they'll have to do it too. i do hate having to go out as a governess, margaret."

miss dexter glanced at her friend, who was so plain as to be almost unfeminine, and looked jaded and unwell besides; she had her eyes fixed on the suburban landscape now flying past at sixty miles an hour, and something in her aspect caused miss dexter's heart to contract. "poor old janet," she said, "i don't suppose it will be as bad as you expect. i'm a brute to be trying to put you against them. you won't see much of mr. clinton, and he probably won't bother you when you do. as for mrs. clinton, if you want the truth, she once gave me a snub, and i feel catty about her; so you needn't take any notice of what i say. the children are real characters, with any amount of brains, and you'll have a great opportunity with them if you can keep them in order."

miss phipp brightened up. "ah, that's better hearing," she said. "as for keeping them in order, after a class of thirty high school girls, that's child's play."

"well, i don't want to paint too bright a picture," said miss dexter, "and from what i've heard of them i don't think that it will be quite that."

in the meantime virginia and humphrey were getting on very well in their more luxurious compartment. humphrey had expressed his pleasure at the opening up of the home of his fathers to his brother's expectant bride, and in such a fashion that virginia had warmed to him and told him exactly how things stood.

"you see, i'm going on what the shops call 'appro,'" she said. "if they don't like me they can turn me out again."

"and if they do like you," said humphrey, "which, of course, they will——"

"then all will be well," concluded virginia.

he looked out of the window before he asked, carelessly, "i suppose dick's there?"

"of course dick's there," said virginia. "you don't suppose i should venture into the lion's den without my dick to support me, do you? dear old dick! i'm glad he's made it up with your father."

"so am i," said humphrey, after the minutest pause. "family quarrels are the devil and all. and there was no sense in this one. i suppose he's chucked the idea of yorkshire, and he's returned to the bosom of the fold."

"oh, good gracious, no!" said virginia. "at least he hasn't said so. why should he, anyway? i guess we shall want all the dollars we can grab at. a wife's an expensive luxury, you know, mr. humphrey."

"especially a wife like you," returned humphrey genially. "still, i shouldn't be surprised if you find yorkshire 'off' when you get to kencote. if the governor has come round about you, he'll probably come round about—about other things."

"you mean money?" said virginia. "we're not bothering ourselves about that."

"you're not, perhaps."

"you mean that dick is? i don't know anything about it, and i don't care. that's not what i'm going to kencote for. why do men always think such a lot about money, i wonder?"

"ah, i wonder," said humphrey.

the four travellers joined up at bathgate, where they had to change, and travelled to kencote together in a second-class carriage, on virginia's decision, which humphrey accepted with some distaste, but did not combat.

dick and the twins were on the platform at kencote. the twins were inveterate train-meeters, whenever they were allowed to be, and dick had brought them this evening with the idea of packing them and miss dexter and miss phipp into one carriage and accompanying virginia in the other. but humphrey had not been expected, and the greeting between the brothers was not particularly cordial. however, he grasped the situation when he saw a landau and a brougham in waiting outside instead of the station omnibus, which he had expected to see, and solved it by announcing his intention of walking.

"we would come with you, darling," said joan in an aside, "but we must see it out with our image. what's she like, humphrey?"

"oh, most lovable—as you can see," replied humphrey, disengaging his arm and setting out into the darkness.

when the carriage into which the twins had packed themselves with miss phipp and miss dexter had rolled off in the wake of the other, miss phipp said, "well, girls, i hope we shall get on well together. you're not afraid of hard work, i suppose?"

"oh no," replied joan readily; "we're looking forward to it immensely."

"you will find our diligence one of our best points," said nancy. "if at first we don't succeed we always try, try, try again."

there was a moment's silence, except for the sharp trot of the horse's hoofs and the wheels rolling on the frosty road. then miss dexter laughed suddenly. "there, you're answered," she said to miss phipp. "let's put them through an examination. what do you know of mathematics?"

"don't be foolish, margaret," said miss phipp sharply. "they must not begin by making fun of their lessons."

"oh, but we shouldn't think of doing that," said joan.

"they're far too serious, and we have been taught not to make fun of serious things," said nancy.

miss dexter laughed again. "what do you know of mathematics?" she asked.

"nancy is not good at them," replied joan. "she got as far as the asses' bridge in euclid, with the starling, our last governess, and then she struck, as you might expect. her strong point is literature. she writes poems that bring tears to the eyes."

"joan's weak point is history," said nancy. "she thought henry the eighth was a widower when he married anne boleyn, and starling made her learn all his wives in order before she went to bed."

"that will do, girls," said miss phipp firmly. "and if miss starling was the name of your last governess, please call her so."

the ensuing silence was broken by a smothered giggle from joan, which nancy covered up by asking in a rather shaky voice of miss dexter whether she and miss phipp had known each other before.

"yes," said miss dexter, "we were at school together—oh, years ago—and have never seen each other since, until we met on the platform. funny, wasn't it? i say, is there a ghost at kencote?"

"oh, no, it isn't old enough," replied joan. "but there's one at the dower-house—an old man in one boot who goes about looking for the other one."

"that's a jolly sort of ghost," said miss dexter. "do you know who he was?"

"he is supposed to have been an ancestor in the time of charles the second—he's dressed like that—who kicked his servant to death, and——"

"we've got some topping ancestors," put in nancy. "there's a book about them. joan and i read it the other day. one of them was called abraham, and he said if he had a name like that he must live up to it, so he called his sons jacob and esau——"

"he only had one and he called him isaac," interrupted joan. "you have got it wrong."

"that will do," said miss phipp decisively, and just then the carriage clattered under the porch and came to a standstill.

the squire had not been able to bring himself to meet his guests in the hall, as was the hospitable custom at kencote. he had meant to do so. he had given in on the main point on which he had held out so long, and honestly intended to behave well about it. he had gone to and fro between his room and the morning-room across the hall, standing first before the fire near which his wife was sitting, and then reading the times for a few minutes in his own easy-chair, and when the wheels of the first carriage had been heard, and mrs. clinton had put aside her work and risen according to custom, he had gone out with her into the hall. but when the servants came through to the door he thought that they cast curious looks at him, as possibly they did, and he bolted suddenly back to the shelter of his room, and stood there listening, until the door of the morning-room was shut and the noises outside had ceased.

then he grew ashamed of himself. what would dick think of him? if he delayed any longer it would look as if he were holding off, after all—refusing to put at her ease and make welcome a guest in his own house. so he gathered up his courage, settled his waistcoat, and walked boldly into the morning-room, and straight up to miss dexter, who was nearest to the door, and with whom he shook hands warmly, somewhat to her confusion, before he distinguished virginia, who had risen when he came in.

her colour was high, and her eyes sparkling, but she smiled in his face, and said, as americans do on an introduction, "mr. clinton," and then waited for him to speak, still standing and looking straight into his eyes, with the smile that invited friendliness.

the squire turned away from her somewhat confused, and said, "tea ready, nina? lady george must be cold after her journey. what sort of weather was it in london?"

miss dexter replied to the question, as his brows had been bent upon her when it was asked. she said it was rather raw, and the answer seemed to satisfy him, for he left that subject and remarked that the radicals seemed to be making a disgraceful mess of it as usual, and if this sort of thing went on we should all be driven out of the country.

this led nowhere, and that awful pause seemed likely to ensue where people ill at ease with one another search for topics to hide up their discomfort. but virginia, who had sat down again, said, "mr. clinton, have you ever forgiven us for heading back the fox?"

"eh! what!" asked the squire, with a lively recollection of the rebuke he had administered on the occasion referred to.

virginia laughed. "you were terrible," she said. "but you had every right to be terrible. i'd never done such a thing before, and i hope i shall never do such a thing again. i feel like getting under the sofa every time i think of it."

the squire thought the last statement just slightly verging on indelicacy, but its effect on his mind was only momentary, so relieved was he at having a subject held out to him. deep down in his heart he held to his aversion to virginia, and nothing in her appearance or attitude had in the least softened it. but, externally, it had to be covered up, and because she offered him a covering he was grateful, and for the moment well disposed towards her.

"ladies who come into the hunting-field," he said, with a near approach to a smile, "and turn foxes, must expect to be spoken sharply to."

this was enough for virginia to go on with, but not for miss dexter, who had heard the words, but missed the smile. "it is like interfering with a child's toys," she said. "he forgets his manners for the moment."

the squire bent a look of puzzled displeasure on her, but before her words could sink in, virginia said, "toby, don't be tiresome. you don't know anything whatever about hunting, and you are so absurdly vain that you can't bear to be corrected when you've done wrong."

dick laughed and said to his mother, "miss dexter gets a good deal of correction and puts up with it like an angel. she's not in the least vain, really."

"nothing much to be vain of," said miss dexter, with complete equanimity.

the squire was still looking at her as if adjusting his mind to her presence and potentialities, and she looked up at him and said, "miss phipp, your children's governess, is an old friend of mine. we were at school together." then she looked down again and took a sip of tea.

the squire seemed at a loss to know what use to make of this piece of information, but dick said, "she looks as if she would be able to handle them all right."

"you mean that she is plain," said miss dexter.

"you seem to be in a very bad humour," dick retorted.

"she's in an atrocious humour," said virginia. "she always is when she's been travelling. she will pick up and be thoroughly amiable when she's had two cups of tea."

"do let me give you another one," said mrs. clinton, with a kind smile, and everybody laughed, including the squire, a second or two late.

conversation went fairly easily after that, and by and by mrs. clinton took virginia and miss dexter up to their rooms. never very ready of speech, she had little to say as they went up the staircase and along the corridors, but when she had shown them their rooms, which were adjoining, she asked, "would you like to come and see the children in their quarters? i hope they are making miss phipp feel at home."

"i should love to," said virginia; and miss dexter said, "they ought to have come to some understanding by now."

joan and nancy were sitting one on either side of miss phipp at the tea-table. their demure air, which did not quite correspond to the look in their eyes, probably warned mrs. clinton that if any understanding had been come to it was of a one-sided nature, but miss phipp looked comfortable both in mind and body, and said, as she rose from the table, "we have been having a good talk about our future plans. we are going to do a great deal of hard work together, and put all our minds into it."

the twins, for once, forbore to add to a statement of that nature. their bright eyes were fixed full upon virginia, who smiled radiantly on them and said, "what a lovely schoolroom you have! i shouldn't mind working in a room like this."

"it is rather nice," said joan. "miss starling, our last governess, taught us to keep it in order."

"miss starling seems to have taught them some very useful things," said miss phipp, with firm complacency. "she was with you for a good many years, was she not, mrs. clinton?"

"her name was 'miss bird,'" said mrs. clinton. "we were all very fond of her, and the boys gave her a nickname out of affection."

"oh!" said miss phipp, casting a glance of disapproval on the twins, who met it with eyes of blameless innocence.

later on when the twins went to their room to change their frocks they dismissed hannah from attendance on them. "we have something to talk over," said joan, "and we can do without you this evening."

"you had better wait outside on the mat and we'll call you if we want you," said nancy.

"indeed, miss nancy, i should demean myself by doing no such thing," said the indignant hannah. "if you wish to talk between yourselves as well i know what you want to talk about, though deny it you may, straight downstairs do i go, and you may do your 'airs yourself, for i shall not come up again till it's time to tidy."

"hurry up," said nancy. "we'll ring if we want you."

when hannah had departed joan said, "well, what do you think of her"

"who do you mean—virginia, or pipp, or toby?"

"virginia, of course. i think she's rather sweet. she's worth ten of sweet sue clinton, anyhow."

"that's not saying much for her. i think she's all right, though. but i haven't seen any signs of the chocolates yet."

"what chocolates?"

"i thought she'd be sure, to bring us a great big expensive box tied up with pink ribbons, so as to make friends with us and get us on her side."

"i shouldn't have thought nearly so much of her if she had. what i like about her is that she doesn't toady. she knows she's got to make a good impression, but she doesn't show she's trying. i'm sure mother likes her."

"we haven't seen her with father yet."

"we shall at dinner. i really think she's rather a darling, nancy. i think i shall give in."

nancy announced her intention of holding out a little longer just to make sure. "she's just the merest trifle too sweet for my taste," she said. "i must be quite certain that it's part of her first."

"i'm sure it's part of her," said joan. "she isn't any sweeter than aunt grace, and you like her."

"aunt grace is too sweet for my taste, although it is part of her, and isn't put on. i like people with more character. toby, now—she's a ripper."

"yes, i like her," admitted joan. "she likes us too. i think she wants to egg us on to deal with pipp."

"we shan't want much egging. we've got her a bit puzzled already. i don't think she's a bad sort, you know, joan. i thought she'd give us bread and water when mother went away."

"she's not quite sure of herself yet. we'll go on playing at being high school girls for a bit. it's rather fun. don't they wear their hair in pigtails?"

"we might plait our hair after breakfast to-morrow. and they always say 'yes, miss phipp,' 'no, miss phipp.' you know that story we read?"

"we'll go through it again. we'll do all the proper things at lesson time, and outside the schoolroom we'll be our own sweet selves. it will be rather a bore going for walks with her."

"she can't be allowed to be instructive then."

"rather not. she'll want firm handling, but i think we shall be equal to it."

"it may come to a tussle. but we've only got to keep our heads. there are two of us, and there's only one of her. we'll be kind but firm, and when she's learnt her place i dare say we shall get on all right, and everything will go swimmingly. what has hannah done with my hair-ribbon? ring the bell loud, joan, and go on ringing till she comes up."