are a bit
bigger than Denas, so you snub her, and Denas, of course, passes on
the snub. Why should she not? Where is Denas?"

"She has gone home, and I do hope she will never come here again. She
behaved very impertinently."

"That I will not believe. Put the shoe on your own foot, Elizabeth.
You were rude before I left, and I dare swear you were rude, ruder,
rudest after you were alone with the girl. For pure spite and
ill-nature, a newly married woman beats the devil."

"Who are you talking to, Roland?"

"To you. I have to talk plainly to you occasionally--birds in their
little nests agree, but brothers and sisters do not; in fact, they
cannot. For instance, I should be a brute if I agreed with you about
Denas."

"I say that Denas behaved very rudely. She went away without my
knowledge and without bidding me good-bye. I shall decline to have
any more to do with her."

"I have no doubt she has already declined you in every possible form.
As far as I can judge, she is a spirited little creature. But
gracious! how she did sing this morning! I'll bet you fifty pounds if
Robert Burrell had heard her sing a year ago you would not have been
mistress of Burrell Court to-day."

"Either you or I must leave the room, Roland. I will not listen any
longer to you."

"Sit still. I am very glad to go. I shall take a room at the Black
Lion to-morrow. The atmosphere of the Court is so exquisitely rarefied
and refined that I am choking in it. I only hope you may not smother
Robert in it. Good-night! I notice Robert goes to London pretty often
lately. Good-night."

Then he closed the door sharply and went smiling to his room. "I think
I have made madame quite as uncomfortable as she has made me," he
muttered, "and I will go to the Black Lion to-morrow. From there I can
reach Denas without being watched at both ends. John Penelles to the
right and Elizabeth Burrell to the left of me are too much and too
many. For Denas I must see. I must see her if I have to dress myself
in blue flannels and oil-skins to manage it."

In the morning Elizabeth ate her breakfast alone. She had determined
to have a good quarrel with Roland, and make him ashamed of his speech
and behaviour on the previous evening. But before she rose Roland had
gone to the Black Lion, and moreover he had left orders for his packed
traps and trunks to be sent after him. He had a distinct object in
this move. At the Court he was constantly under surveillance, and