for rest.

"Are there indeed only twelve hours in the day?" Robinette asked
herself desperately as she heard the great, solemn-toned hall clock
strike two. It seemed quite impossible that it could be only two; the
whole afternoon had still to be accounted for, and how? Well, she
might look over her clothes again, re-arranging them in all their
dainty variety in the wardrobe and drawers; she might put tissue paper
into the sleeves of each bodice, smoothing out every crease; she might
even find that some tiny repairs were needed! There were three new
hats, and several pairs of new gloves to be tried on; her accounts
must be made up, her cheque book balanced; yet all these things would
take but a short time. Then the hall clock struck three.

"I must go out," she thought.

Coming through the hall from her room Robinette met her aunt and Miss
Smeardon descending the staircase.

"We are driving this afternoon," said Mrs. de Tracy, "would you not
like to come with us?"

The thought turned Robinette to stone: she had visited the stables,
and seen the coachman lead what seemed to her a palsied horse out into
the yard. Her sympathetic allusion to the supposed condition of the
steed had not been well received, for the man had given her to
understand that this was the one horse of the establishment, but
Robinette had vowed never to sit behind it.

"I think I'd rather walk, Aunt de Tracy," she said, "I'd like to go
and see my mother's old nurse, Mrs. Prettyman. Can I do any errands
for you?"

"None, thank you. To go to Wittisham you have to cross the ferry,
remember."

"Oh! that must be simple! you may be sure I shall not lose myself!"
said Robinette.

Both the older women looked curiously at her for a moment; then Mrs.
de Tracy said:--

"You will kindly not use the public ferry; the footman will row you
across to Wittisham at any hour you may mention to him."

"Oh, but Aunt de Tracy, I'd really prefer the public ferry."

"Nonsense, impossible; the footman shall row you," said Mrs. de Tracy
with finality.

Robinette said nothing; she hated the idea of the footman, but it
seemed inevitable. "Am I never to get away from their dullnesses?" she
thought. "A public ferry sounds quite lively in place of being rowed
by William!"

When the shore was reached, however, Robinette discovered that the
passage across the river in a leaky little boat, rowed by a painfully
inexperienced servant, was almost too much for her. To