nd I
send away the interfering sister; and all she has to do is to snap up the
young man, while her mother and that illustrious cook of yours stand by
and clap their hands. But I do not give you much credit. You are merely
an inconsiderate blunderer, to say no more. You did not plan anything; I
did that, and when my plans don't work one way, they do in another. This
one was like a boomerang that did not hit what it was aimed at, but came
banging and clattering back all the same. And now I will remark that I
have given up that sort of thing. I can throw as well as ever, but I am
too old to stand the back-cracks."

"You are not too old for anything," said the doctor, "and you and I will
do a lot of planning yet. But tell me one thing; do you think that this
Haverley-Drane combination is going to deprive me of La Fleur?"

"Upon my word!" cried the old lady, springing to her feet, "never did I
see a man so steeped in selfishness. Not a word of sympathy for me! In
all this unfortunate affair, you think of nothing but the danger of
losing your cook! Well, I am happy to say you are going to lose her. That
will be your punishment, and well you deserve it. She will no more think
of staying with you, after the Dranes set up housekeeping at Cobhurst,
than I would think of coming to cook for you. And so you may go back to
your soggy bread, and your greasy fries, and your dishwater coffee, and
get yellow and green in the face, thin in the legs, and weak in the
stomach, and have good reason to say to yourself that if you had let Miss
Panney alone, and let her work out that excellent plan she had confided
to you, you would have lived to a healthy old age, with the best cook in
this part of the country making you happy three times a day, and
satisfied with the world between meals."

"Deal gently with the erring," said the doctor. "Don't crush me. I want
to go to Cobhurst this morning, to see them all, and find out my fate.
Wouldn't you like to go with me? I have a visit to make, two or three
miles above here, but I shall be back soon, and will drive you over. What
do you say?"

"Very good," said Miss Panney. "I have been thinking of calling on the
happy family."

As soon as the doctor had departed Miss Panney ordered her phaeton.

"I intended going to Cobhurst to-day," she said to herself, "but I do not
propose to go with him. I shall get there first and see how the land
lies, before he comes to muddle up things with his sordid a