Bar, I hope. It's the kind of career that would suit me,
I think."

Carmel's dark eyes shone.

"Then I shall come to court, and hear you plead a case! And when you get
into Parliament--oh yes! you _are_ going to get into Parliament, I
_know_ you are!--I shall sit in the Ladies' Gallery and listen to your
first speech. If you won't be Squire of Cheverley, you must become
famous in some other way! In Sicily we think a tremendous amount about
being the head of the family. You'll be the head of the Ingletons, and
you've got to make a name for the sake of the others."

"I know I ought to take my father's place to the younger ones," answered
Everard gravely. "I'll do what I can in that line, though I'm not much
to boast of myself, I'm afraid. I'm not the good sort you think me,
Carmel. But there, you little witch, you've cast your glamour over me,
somehow! I suppose I've got to try to be all you want me. Princess
Carmel gives her orders here, it seems!"

"Yes, and in things like this she expects to be obeyed!" laughed Carmel.
"I told you once before that you hadn't got the same shape of forehead
as the Emperor Augustus for nothing!"

It was after the girls had returned to school, during some bitter
weather at the end of January, that Lilias caught a severe cold, and was
kept in bed. Dr. Martin, sent for from Glazebrook, took a serious view
of the case, and asked to consult with Dr. Hill of Balderton, the
family physician at Cheverley Chase. They sounded the patient's chest,
examined the temperature charts kept by Miss Walters, and decided that
the climate of Chilcombe was too damp for her at present, and that she
would benefit by spending the trying spring months in a warmer and drier
atmosphere. The result of this ultimatum was a large amount of writing
and telegraphing between England and Sicily, several confabulations
among Mr. Bowden, Cousin Clare, Mr. Stacey, and Miss Walters, and then
the remarkable and delightful announcement that the invalid, escorted by
a detachment of her family, was to be taken to Casa Bianca at Montalesso
on a visit to Mr. and Mrs. Greville.

It was, of course, Carmel who had engineered the whole business.

"It's nearly a year since I left home," she explained, "so it's time
they let me go and see them. I couldn't take Lilias without Dulcie, it
wouldn't be kind, and even Miss Walters saw that, though she held out at
first. Then Everard has been working very hard, and needs a change, but,
i