derstand, to-morrow.
'Mademoiselle Le Breton at home!' I confess I am curious. By
all means go, and send me a full report. Mr. Montresor and
his wife will certainly be there. He and I have been
corresponding, of course. He wishes to persuade me that he
feels himself in some way responsible for mademoiselle's
position, and for my dismissal of her; that I ought to allow
him in consequence full freedom of action. I cannot see
matters in the same light. But, as I tell him, the change
will be all to his advantage. He exchanges a fractious old
woman, always ready to tell him unpleasant truths, for one
who has made flattery her _metier_. If he wants quantity she
will give it him. Quality he can dispense with--as I have
seen for some time past.

"Lord Lackington has written me an impertinent letter. It
seems she has revealed herself, and _il s'en prend a moi_,
because I kept the secret from him, and because I have now
dared to dismiss his granddaughter. I am in the midst of a
reply which amuses me. He is to cast off his belongings as he
pleases; but when a lady of the Chantrey blood--no matter how
she came by it--condescends to enter a paid employment,
legitimate or illegitimate, she must be treated _en reine_,
or Lord L. will know the reason why. 'Here is one hundred
pounds a year, and let me hear no more of you,' he says to
her at sixteen. Thirteen years later I take her in, respect
his wishes, and keep the secret. She misbehaves herself, and
I dismiss her. Where is the grievance? He himself made her a
_lectrice_, and now complains that she is expected to do her
duty in that line of life. He himself banished her from the
family, and now grumbles that I did not at once foist her
upon him. He would like to escape the odium of his former
action by blaming me; but I am not meek, and I shall make him
regret his letter.

"As for Jacob Delafield, don't trouble yourself to write me
any further news of him. He has insulted me lately in a way I
shall not soon forgive--nothing to do, however, with the lady
who says she refused him. Whether her report be veracious or
no matters nothing to me, any more than his chances of
succeeding to the Captain's place. He is one of the ingenious
fools who despise the old ways of ruining themselves, and in