him absent, if
possible.

'Harry, you'll pardon me; I can't talk of him,' said she.

I proposed half-earnestly to foil his return by going to London at once.

'That's manly; that's nice of you,' Janet said.

This was on our walk from the house at night. My aunt Dorothy listened,
pressing my arm. The next morning Janet urged me to go at once. 'Keep
him away, bring down grandada, Harry. She cannot quit the island,
because she has given Prince Ernest immediate rendezvous here. You
must not delay to go. Yes, the Countess of Delzenburg shall have your
excuses. And no, I promise you I will run nobody down. Besides, if I do,
aunty will be at hand to plead for the defence, and she can! She has a
way that binds one to accept everything she says, and Temple ought to
study with her for a year or two before he wears his gown. Bring him
back with you and grandada. He is esteemed here at his true worth. I
love him for making her in love with English boys. I leave the men
for those who know them, but English boys are unrivalled, I declare.
Honesty, bravery, modesty, and nice looks! They are so nice in their
style and their way of talking. I tell her, our men may be shy and
sneering,--awkward, I daresay; but our boys beat the world. Do bring
down Temple. I should so like her to see a cricket-match between two
good elevens of our boys, Harry, while she is in England! We could have
arranged for one at Riversley.'

I went, and I repressed the idea, on my way, that Janet had manoeuvred
by sending me off to get rid of me, but I felt myself a living testimony
to her heartlessness: for no girl of any heart, acting the part of
friend, would have allowed me to go without a leave-taking of her I
loved few would have been so cruel as to declare it a duty to go at
all, especially when the chances were that I might return to find the
princess wafted away. Ottilia's condescension had done her no good.
'Turn to the right, that's your path; on.' She seemed to speak in this
style, much as she made her touch of the reins understood by her ponies.
'I 'll take every care of the princess,' she said. Her conceit was
unbounded. I revelled in contemptuous laughter at her assumption of the
post of leader with Ottilia. However, it was as well that I should go:
there was no trusting my father.

CHAPTER XLIX. WHICH FORESHADOWS A GENERAL GATHERING

At our Riversley station I observed the squire, in company with Captain
Bulsted, jump into a neighbouri