hey could do much better without her, and Mrs.
Polkington wrote and intimated as much politely. She gave several
excellent reasons, all of which were perfectly transparent to Julia,
though that did not matter, seeing that she was sufficiently hurt in
her feelings, or her pride, to at once determine to fulfil her
mother's wishes and do anything rather than go where she was not
wanted.

There was not much said of the plans and doings in Mrs. Polkington's
letter, but a little crept in almost without the writer's knowledge,
enough to rouse Julia's suspicions. Why, she asked herself, was her
mother suddenly enamoured with the beauty of Chippendale furniture?
How did she know that Sturt's (the tailor's) prices were lower for
costumes this season? And in what way had she become aware what the
Ashton's last parlour-maid thought, if she had not engaged that young
woman for her own service? Julia was at once uneasy and disgusted; the
last alike with the proceedings themselves and the attempt to deceive
her about them. And another letter she received at the same time did
not make her any more satisfied; it was from Johnny Gillat, about as
silly and uninforming a letter as ever man wrote, but it contained one
piece of information. Mr. Gillat was going to have a great excitement
in the early autumn--Captain Polkington was coming to London, perhaps
for as long as three months. Johnny did not know why; he thought
perhaps to have some treatment for his rheumatism; Mrs. Polkington had
arranged it. Julia did know why, and the short-sightedness of the
policy roused her contempt. To thus put the family drawback out of the
way, and leave him to his own devices and Mr. Gillat's care, seemed to
her as unwise towards him as it was unkind to Johnny. She would have
written that minute to expostulate with her mother if she had not just
then been called away.

These two disturbing letters arrived on the day that Joost came home
from Germany, after the English mail for the day had gone. Julia
comforted herself with this last fact when she was called before she
had time to write to her mother; she could write when she went to bed
that night; the letter would go just as soon as if it was written now;
so she went to answer Mevrouw's summons to admire the carved crochet
hook her son had brought her as a present from Germany. Joost had
brought several small presents besides the crochet hook, a pipe for
his father, and two other trifles--a small vase a