were spent on laying out
the dining-table. It was clearly impossible to take Gertrude anywhere
but into the drawing-room, which was in demi-toilette state, the
lustres released from their veils, the gayer cushions taken out of
their hiding-places, and the brown holland covers half off. This was
the only tranquil spot, and so poor little Mab thought, forbidden
ground though it was. Even in her own home, the school-room, a strange
man had twice trod upon her toes; so no wonder, when she saw her own
master and his friends in the drawing-room, that she ventured in, and
leaping on a velvet cushion she had never seen before, and had never
been ordered off, she there curled herself up and went to sleep, unseen
by Leonard, who was in eager controversy upon the specimens, which
Gertrude, as she unpacked, set down on floor, chair, or ottoman,
unaware of the offence she was committing. So, unmolested, the young
geologists talked, named, and sorted the specimens, till the clock
striking the half-hour, warned the Mays that they must return; and
Leonard let them out at the window, and crossed the lawn to the side
gate with them to save the distance.

He had just returned, and was kneeling on the floor hastily collecting
the fossils, when the door opened, and Henry Ward, coming home to
inspect the preparations, beheld the drawing-room bestrewn with the
rough stones that he had proscribed, and Mab, not only in the room, but
reposing in the centre of the most magnificent cushion in the house!

His first movement of indignation was to seize the dog with no gentle
hand. She whined loudly; and Leonard, whom he had not seen, shouted
angrily, 'Let her alone;' then, at another cry from her, finding his
advance to her rescue impeded by a barricade of the crowded and
disarranged furniture, he grew mad with passion, and launched the stone
in his hand, a long sharp-pointed belemnite. It did not strike Henry,
but a sound proclaimed the mischief, as it fell back from the surface
of the mirror, making a huge star of cracks, unmarked by Leonard, who,
pushing sofa and ottoman to the right and left, thundered up to his
brother, and with uplifted hand demanded what he meant by his cruelty.

'Is--is this defiance?' stammered Henry, pointing to the disordered
room.

'Look here, Averil,' as she appeared at the sounds, 'do you defend this
boy now he has very nearly killed me?'

'Killed you!' and Leonard laughed angrily; but when Henry held up the