t that she could probably obey
the ecclesiastical man, but that she would certainly rebel against
the ecclesiastical woman.

There had been, as I have said, a Miss Baker with the female
minister, and Miss Mackenzie had at once perceived that had Miss
Baker called alone, the whole thing would have been much more
pleasant. Miss Baker had a soft voice, was given to a good deal of
gentle talking, was kind in her manner, and prone to quick intimacies
with other ladies of her own nature. All this Miss Mackenzie felt
rather than saw, and would have been delighted to have had Miss Baker
without Mrs Stumfold. She could, she knew, have found out all about
everything in five minutes, had she and Miss Baker been able to sit
close together and to let their tongues loose. But Miss Baker, poor
soul, was in these days thoroughly subject to the female Stumfold
influence, and went about the world of Littlebath in a repressed
manner that was truly pitiable to those who had known her before the
days of her slavery.

But, as she rose to leave the room at her tyrant's bidding, she spoke
a word of comfort. "A friend of mine, Miss Mackenzie, lives next door
to you, and she has begged me to say that she will do herself the
pleasure of calling on you, if you will allow her."

The poor woman hesitated as she made her little speech, and once cast
her eye round in fear upon her companion.

"I'm sure I shall be delighted," said Miss Mackenzie.

"That's Miss Todd, is it?" said Mrs Stumfold; and it was made
manifest by Mrs Stumfold's voice that Mrs Stumfold did not think much
of Miss Todd.

"Yes; Miss Todd. You see she is so close a neighbour," said Miss
Baker, apologetically.

Mrs Stumfold shook her head, and then went away without further
speech.

Miss Mackenzie became at once impatient for Miss Todd's arrival,
and was induced to keep an eye restlessly at watch on the two
neighbouring doors in the Paragon, in order that she might see Miss
Todd at the moment of some entrance or exit. Twice she did see a
lady come out from the house next her own on the right, a stout
jolly-looking dame, with a red face and a capacious bonnet, who
closed the door behind her with a slam, and looked as though she
would care little for either male Stumfold or female. Miss Mackenzie,
however, made up her mind that this was not Miss Todd. This lady, she
thought, was a married lady; on one occasion there had been children
with her, and she was, in Miss Mackenzie'