s for being
such a trouble because she saw a note on the hall table. There was a
coronet on the back of the envelope, and it was addressed in the neat,
punctilious hand which so well expressed its writer. Villa Faraglione,
Capri, a coronet and Amelia all lightly crossed out headed the page, and
she read:

"DEAR MISS MAPP,

"It is such a pleasure to find myself in our little Tilling again,
and our mutual friend Mrs. Poppit, M.B.E., tells me you are in
residence, and encourages me to hope that I may induce you to take
_dejeuner_ with me on Thursday, at one o'clock. May I assure you,
with all delicacy, that you will not meet here anyone whose
presence could cause you the slightest embarrassment?

"Pray excuse this hasty note. Figgis will wait for your answer if
you are in.

"Yours very sincerely,

"ALGERNON WYSE."

Had not Withers been present, who might have misconstrued her action,
Miss Mapp would have kissed the note; failing that, she forgave Mrs.
Poppit for being an M.B.E.

"The dear woman!" she said. "She has heard, and has told him."

Of course she need not ask Mr. Wyse to tea now....

CHAPTER VII

A white frost on three nights running and a terrible blackening of
dahlias, whose reputation was quite gone by morning, would probably have
convinced the ladies of Tilling that it was time to put summer clothing
in camphor and winter clothing in the back-yard to get aired, even if
the Padre had not preached that remarkable sermon on Sunday. It was so
remarkable that Miss Mapp quite forgot to note grammatical lapses and
listened entranced.

The text was, "He made summer and winter," and after repeating the words
very impressively, so that there might be no mistake about the origin of
the seasons, the Padre began to talk about something quite
different--namely, the unhappy divisions which exist in Christian
communities. That did not deceive Miss Mapp for a moment: she saw
precisely what he was getting at over his oratorical fences. He got at
it....

Ever since Summer-time had been inaugurated a few years before, it had
been one of the chronic dissensions of Tilling. Miss Mapp, Diva and the
Padre flatly refused to recognize it, except when they were going by
train or tram, when principle must necessarily go to the wall, or they
would never have succeeded