Mrs. Picture."

* * * * *

Keziah Solmes did not come back till quite late in the evening. Her
report of the state of things at Strides Cottage was manifestly vitiated
by an unrestrained optimism. If she was to be believed, the sudden
revelation to each other of the old twin sisters had had no specially
perturbing effect on either. Gwen spent much of the evening writing a
long letter to her father at Bath, giving a full account of her day's
work, and ending:--"I do hope the dear old soul will bear it. Mrs.
Solmes has just given me a most promising report of her. I cannot
suppose her constant references to the Benevolence of Providence to be
altogether euphemisms in the interest of the Almighty. I am borrowing
Adrian's language--you will see that. I think Keziah is convinced that
Mrs. Prichard will rally, and that the twins may live to be
nonagenarians together. I must confess to being very anxious about her
myself. She looked to me as if a breath of air might blow her away. I
shall not see her again for a day or two, but I know they will send for
me if I am wanted. Dr. Nash is to see to that. What a serviceable man he
is!" She went on to say, after a few more particulars of Keziah's
report, that she was going to Pensham on Monday, and should not come
back before the Earl's own return to the Towers. Mamma would do
perfectly well without her, and it was only fair, considering her own
concessions.

But Gwen did not go to church next day.

Dr. Nash had been sent for to Strides Cottage at a very early hour,
having been prevented from fulfilling a promise to go overnight. He must
have seen some new cause for uneasiness, although he disclaimed any
grounds of alarm. For he wrote off at once to her young ladyship, after
a careful examination of his patient:--"Mrs. Prichard certainly is very
feeble. I think it only right that you should know this at once. But you
need not be frightened. Probably it is no more than was to be expected."
That was the wording of his letter, received by Gwen as she sat at
breakfast with some new arrivals and the Colonel, and the dregs of the
shooting-party. She was not at all sorry to get a complete change of
ideas and associations, although the subjects of conversation were
painful enough, turning on the reports of mixed disaster and success in
the Crimea that were making the close of '54 lurid and memorable for
future history. Gwen glanced at Dr. Nash's letter, ga