d do."

Mrs. Walker was stiffening in every limb.

"The children would have the usual chances of their class; neither more
nor less, as it seems to me, for lack of a maternal burnt-offering."

Mrs. Walker rose, gathered her daughters about her, and came forward to
say good-bye. She was sure her husband would be annoyed if she did not
return. She retired with nervous precipitation.

"Really you will depopulate this village, Mrs. Temperley," cried Lady
Engleton with a laugh; "it is quite dangerous to bring up a family
within your reach. There will be a general exodus. I must be going
myself, or I shan't have an orthodox sentiment left."

CHAPTER XX.

Henriette had secured Mrs. Fullerton for an ally, from the beginning.
When Hadria's parents visited the Red House, Miss Temperley was asked to
meet them, by special request. Henriette employed tact on a grand scale,
and achieved results in proportion. She was sorry that dear Hadria did
not more quickly recover her strength. Her health was not what it ought
to be. Mrs. Fullerton sighed. She was ready to play into Miss
Temperley's hands on every occasion.

The latter had less success in her dealings with Miss Du Prel. She tried
to discover Hadria's more intimate feelings by talking her over with
Valeria, ignoring the snubs that were copiously administered by that
indignant lady. Valeria spoke with sublime scorn of this attempt.

"To try and pump information out of a friend! Why not listen at the
key-hole, and be done with it!"

Henriette's neat hair would have stood on end, had she heard Miss Du
Prel fit adjectives to her conduct.

"I have learnt not to expect a nice sense of honour from superior
persons with unimpeachable sentiments," said Hadria.

"You are certainly a good hater!" cried Valeria, with a laugh.

"Oh, I don't hate Henriette; I only hate unimpeachable sentiments."

The sentiments that Henriette represented had become, to Hadria, as the
walls of a prison from which she could see no means of escape.

She had found that life took no heed either of her ambitions or of her
revolts. "And so I growl," she said. She might hate and chafe in secret
to her heart's content; external conformity was the one thing needful.

"Hadria will be so different when she has children," everyone had said.
And so she was; but the difference was alarmingly in the wrong
direction. Throughout history, she reflected, children had been the
unfailing means of bringing wo