ugh their tongues said nothing.

An accident must have happened. His horses must have run away and upset
the carriage. Maybe he might be brought home on a stretcher presently.
They curbed their curiosity until they could interview the coachman, who
must know all about it.

They waited on the returning party in respectful silence.

"Miss Meeke, my dear," said Mrs. Force, as they entered the hall, "will
you oblige me and take charge of our guest, and show her into the best
spare room, where there is a fire, and attend to her comfort? Take
Wynnette with you. You see, dear, that I have to give my whole care to my
poor child here. Mrs. Anglesea, I am sure you will excuse me for a little
while?"

"Oh, go along with you and look after the gal! She's 'most dead! How she
can take on so after that beat beats me! Lord! there's no accounting for
gals' whims! But there! go along with her. Never mind me; I can make
myself at home anywheres!" exclaimed the visitor, beginning to pull off
her overshoes then and there.

Miss Meeke and Wynnette invited and conducted her upstairs to the best
bedchamber, situated in front of the house, with windows overlooking the
bay; furnished with maple wood and blue chintz, and warmed by a fine,
open, wood fire.

Wynnette drew an armchair to the fire, and made the panting guest sit down
in it, while Miss Meeke looked to the washstand, to see if there were
water and towels enough.

"I have to get one of you young ones to lend me the loan of a hair brush
and comb, for I didn't bring any. If I had knowed I was coming, I'd 'a'
done it. But, Lord! no one ever knows! And there! I have just remembered
as I never took leave of that good soul, Miss Sibby! And whatever will she
think of me, a-going off at a tangent in this onthankful manner?"
meandered the woman, talking partly to her attendants and partly to
herself.

"Oh, she will say you were so flambergasted by the rumpus--I mean confused
and excited by the occasion--that you forgot to bid her good-by," said
Wynnette.

"You will find new combs and hair brushes, and everything else you will
require, on the dressing table, or on the washstand," Miss Meeke
explained.

While the governess and her pupil were doing all they could to make the
stranger guest comfortable in the spare room, Mrs. Force, assisted by her
woman, Luce, and followed by Elva, supported her helpless daughter up to
Odalite's own room, where they undressed and put her to bed.

Oda