ut I tell you, Annie, when I saw that carriage coming along the road,
all the old feeling came back to me. I remembered what its owners had
done to me and mine, and what they are still trying to do, and I felt I
could not go into the house, and give her my hand. It would be like
taking hold of a snake."

"A snake!" cried her niece, with much warmth. "She is a lovely woman!
And her coming shows what kindly feelings she has for you. But, no
matter what you think about it, aunt, you have asked her here, and you
must come in and see her. Dinner is waiting, and I don't know what more
to say about your absence."

"Go in and have dinner," said Mrs Keswick.

"Don't wait for me. I'll come in and see her after a while; but I
haven't yet got to the point of sitting down to the table and eating
with her."

"Oh, aunt!" exclaimed Annie, "you ought never to have asked her if you
are going to treat her in this way! And what am I to say to her? What
excuse am I to make? Are you not sick? Isn't something the matter with
you?"

"You can tell them I'm flustrated," said the old lady, "and that is all
that's the matter with me. But I'm not coming in to dinner, and there is
no use of saying anything more about it."

Annie looked at her, the tears of mortification still standing in her
eyes. "I suppose I must go and do the best I can," she said, "but, aunt,
please tell me one thing. Did you invite any other people here? Mr Croft
spoke as if he expected to see other visitors, and if they ask anything
more about it, I don't know what to say."

"The only other people I invited," said the old lady with a grim grin,
"were the King of Norway, and the Prime Minister of Spain, and neither
of them could come." Annie said no more, but hurrying back to the
house, she ordered dinner to be served immediately. At first the meal
was not a very lively one. The young hostess _pro tempore_ explained the
absence of the mistress of the house by stating that she had had a
nervous attack--which was quite true--and that she begged them to excuse
her until after dinner. The two guests expressed their regret at this
unfortunate indisposition, but each felt a degree of embarrassment at
the absence of Mrs Keswick. Roberta, who had heard many stories of the
old woman, guessed at the true reason, and if the distance had not been
so great, she would have gone home that afternoon. Lawrence Croft, of
course, could imagine no reason for the old lady's absence, except