d herself with her back to the horse. The necessary roar ensued,
and then they drove off.

"Good-bye! Be good!" called out Cecil.

Lucy bit her lip, for the tone was sneering. On the subject of "church
and so on" they had had rather an unsatisfactory conversation. He had
said that people ought to overhaul themselves, and she did not want to
overhaul herself; she did not know it was done. Honest orthodoxy
Cecil respected, but he always assumed that honesty is the result of a
spiritual crisis; he could not imagine it as a natural birthright, that
might grow heavenward like flowers. All that he said on this subject
pained her, though he exuded tolerance from every pore; somehow the
Emersons were different.

She saw the Emersons after church. There was a line of carriages down
the road, and the Honeychurch vehicle happened to be opposite Cissie
Villa. To save time, they walked over the green to it, and found father
and son smoking in the garden.

"Introduce me," said her mother. "Unless the young man considers that he
knows me already."

He probably did; but Lucy ignored the Sacred Lake and introduced them
formally. Old Mr. Emerson claimed her with much warmth, and said how
glad he was that she was going to be married. She said yes, she was glad
too; and then, as Miss Bartlett and Minnie were lingering behind with
Mr. Beebe, she turned the conversation to a less disturbing topic, and
asked him how he liked his new house.

"Very much," he replied, but there was a note of offence in his voice;
she had never known him offended before. He added: "We find, though,
that the Miss Alans were coming, and that we have turned them out. Women
mind such a thing. I am very much upset about it."

"I believe that there was some misunderstanding," said Mrs. Honeychurch
uneasily.

"Our landlord was told that we should be a different type of person,"
said George, who seemed disposed to carry the matter further. "He
thought we should be artistic. He is disappointed."

"And I wonder whether we ought to write to the Miss Alans and offer to
give it up. What do you think?" He appealed to Lucy.

"Oh, stop now you have come," said Lucy lightly. She must avoid
censuring Cecil. For it was on Cecil that the little episode turned,
though his name was never mentioned.

"So George says. He says that the Miss Alans must go to the wall. Yet it
does seem so unkind."

"There is only a certain amount of kindness in the world," said George,
watc