fussy brightness more consonant to the joys of impending union with the
Miss Minetts and the day's impending trip. She made no further effort to
secure Damaris' participation in the social and educational advantages
which it promised. On the contrary she left the young lady severely alone
and at home, as one administering well-merited punishment. Thus
effectively demonstrating, as she wished to believe, her personal
authority; and suiting, as she would have stoutly denied, her personal
convenience. For Damaris on a string, plus the extra brake and carriage
horses, was one story; Damaris on her own, minus those animals and
much-debated vehicle, quite another. Unless the presence of her ex-pupil
could be made to redound to her own glory, Theresa much preferred
reserving representation of The Hard and its distinguished proprietor
wholly and solely to herself. So in the spirit of pretence and of
make-believe did she go forth; to find, on her return, that spirit prove
but a lying and treacherous ally--and for more reasons than one.

It happened thus. Supported by the two brindled tabby house cats,
Geraldine and Mustapha--descendants of the numerous tribe honoured,
during the last half-century of his long life, by Thomas Clarkson
Verity's politely affectionate patronage--Damaris spent the greater part
of the morning in the long writing room.

She had judged and condemned Theresa pretty roundly it is true,
nevertheless she felt a little hurt and sore at the latter's treatment
of her. Theresa need not have kept up the quarrel till the very last so
acridly. After all, as she was going out purely for own pleasure and
amusement, she might have found something nice and civil to say at
parting. And then the mere fact of being left behind, of being out of
it, however limited the charms of a party, has a certain small stab to
it somehow--as most persons, probing youthful experiences, can testify.
It is never quite pleasant to be the one who doesn't go!--The house,
moreover, when her father was absent, always reminded Damaris of an
empty shrine, a place which had lost its meaning and purpose. To-day,
though windows and doors were wide open letting in a wealth of sunshine,
it appeared startlingly lifeless and void. The maids seemed unusually
quiet. She heard no movement on the staircase or in the rooms above.
Neither gardener nor garden-boy was visible. She would have hailed the
whirr of the mowing machine or swish of a broom on the l