her manner to him, and
her mother's! He had vowed that he would bring up Margaret's daughter to
respect and obey him in the smallest particular, and he had accomplished
the task he had set himself.

It had, after all, been quite an easy one. The great secret was, he
reflected to maintain an attitude of judicious firmness, and never to
relax it. Not once had Margaret ever ventured to argue with him or to
question his right to order her every action. And so very well pleased
with himself Mr. Anstruther dismissed her from his mind and went about
his own affairs. It had been a matter of some surprise to Margaret to
find how soon she not only got accustomed to Miss Bidwell's absence, but
ceased to miss her. Naturally she felt a little lonely at first, and it
was rather strange to look up from her work and not see the thin, angular
form of her governess seated at the head of the table with a book, at the
pages of which she had latterly, at least, not looked much, open before
her, nor to hear the ceaseless click click of her steel knitting needles.
But as soon as the feeling of loneliness and the sense of almost
oppressive silence that now surrounded her wore off Margaret grew to like
her hours of solitary study. The hours that she found most irksome were
those that she was compelled to spend taking exercise in the grounds. For
though she liked being out in the open air, she soon grew heartily tired
of walking about under the shade of the densely growing elms, and she
missed the long country walks with Miss Bidwell to which she had been
accustomed.

Gradually the monotony and exceeding loneliness of her life began to tell
upon her spirits, her appetite failed, she grew paler and thinner, and
her step as she roamed aimlessly about the grounds grew daily more
languid.

But still no thought of rebelling against the queer existence she was
leading entered her mind, for as yet she had scarcely realised how
unhappy she was. It was an intensely hot summer, and she thought that the
unusual heat was responsible for the lack of interest she felt in all her
usual occupations, and for the tired feeling which made her now, instead
of obeying her grandfather's orders to take exercise, deliberately seek
out the shadiest spot among the trees and sit quietly there the whole
afternoon. It was probably the very first deliberate act of disobedience
of which she had ever of set purpose been guilty in her life, and it was
to have consequences of