een with her when she
first took over Ansdore and had behaved so wickedly with the looker at
Honeychild, now kept furnished rooms as a respectable widow. Martha, who
was still grateful to Joanna, had written and asked her to come and try
her accommodation.... But by no kind of process could Chichester be
thought of as a "cheerful watering-place," and Joanna was resolved to
carry out her prescription to the letter.

"Why don't you go to a really good place?" suggested Ellen--"Bath or
Matlock or Leamington. You could stay at a hydro, if you liked."

But these were all too far--Joanna did not want to be beyond the summons
of Ansdore, which she could scarcely believe would survive her absence.
Also, to her horror, she discovered that nothing would induce Ellen to
accompany her.

"But I can't go without you!" she cried dismally--"it wouldn't be
seemly--it wouldn't be proper."

"What nonsense, Jo. Surely a woman of your age can stop anywhere by
herself."

"Oh, indeed, can she, ma'am? And what about a woman of your age?--It's
you I don't like leaving alone here."

"That's absurd of you. I'm a married woman, and quite able to look after
myself. Besides, I've Mrs. Tolhurst with me, and the Ernleys are quite
close."

"Oh, yes, the Ernleys!" sniffed Joanna with a toss of her head. She felt
that now was a fitting opportunity for Ellen to disclose her exact
relations with the family, but surprisingly her sister took no advantage
of the opening thus made.

"You'd much better go alone, Joanna--it won't do you half so much good
if I go with you. We're getting on each other's nerves, you know we are.
At least I'm getting on yours. You'll be much happier among entirely new
people."

It ended in Joanna's taking rooms at the Palace Hotel, Marlingate. No
persuasions would make her go farther off. She was convinced that
neither Ansdore nor Ellen could exist, at least decorously, without her,
and she must be within easy reach of both. The fortnight between the
booking of her room and her setting out she spent in mingled fretfulness
and swagger. She fretted about Ansdore, and nearly drove her carter and
her looker frantic with her last injunctions; she fretted about Ellen,
and cautioned Mrs. Tolhurst to keep a strict watch over her--"She's not
to go up to late dinner at Great Ansdore without you fetch her home." On
the other hand, she swaggered tremendously about the expensive and
fashionable trip she was making. Her room was on th