ing Miss Derrick she must leave. If not, that disagreeable
necessity must be faced.

'I had rather cut down expenses all round,' said Emmeline, 'than
have our home upset in this way. It isn't like home at all. Louise
is a whirlwind, and the longer she stays, the worse it'll be.'

'Yes, it won't do at all,' Mumford assented. 'By the bye, I met
Bilton to-day, and he asked after Miss Derrick. I didn't like his
look or his tone at all. I feel quite sure there's a joke going
round at our expense. Confound it!'

'Never mind. It'll be over in a day or two, and it'll be a lesson to
you, Clarence, won't it?'

'I quite admit that the idea was mine,' her husband replied, rather
irritably. 'But it wasn't I who accepted the girl as a suitable
person.'

'And certainly it wasn't _me_!' rejoined Emmeline. 'You will please
to remember that I said again and again--'

'Oh, hang it, Emmy! We made a blunder, both of us, and don't let us
make it worse by wrangling about it. There you are; people of that
class bring infection into the house. If she stayed here a
twelvemonth, we should have got to throwing things at each other.'

The answer to Louise's letter of remonstrance came in the form of
Mrs. Higgins herself Shortly before luncheon that lady drove up to
"Runnymede" in a cab, and her daughter, who had just returned from a
walk, was startled to hear of the arrival.

'You've got to come home with me, Lou,' Mrs. Higgins began, as she
wiped her perspiring face. 'I've promised to have you back by this
afternoon. Dada's right down angry; you wouldn't know him. He blames
everything on to you, and you'd better just come home quiet.'

'I shall do nothing of the kind,' answered Louise, her temper
rising.

Mrs. Higgins glared at her and began to rail; the voice was
painfully audible to Emmeline, who just then passed through the
hall. Miss Derrick gave as good as she received; a battle raged for
some minutes, differing from many a former conflict only in the
moderation of pitch and vocabulary due to their being in a
stranger's house.

'Then you won't come?' cried the mother at length. 'I've had my
journey for nothing, have I? Then just go and fetch Mrs.
What's-her-name. She must hear what I've got to say.'

'Mrs. Mumford isn't at home,' answered Louise, with bold mendacity.
'And a very good thing too. I should be sorry for her to see you in
the state you're in.'

'I'm in no more of a state than you are, Louise! And just you listen