o, there was always a possibility of an invitation, of
a visit and little break of novelty: but it was one of Minnie's most
cherished maxims that a young lady in the house was indispensable, and
Chatty in the recollection of this felt a certain cheerful despair, if
the expression is permissible, seize her. She would be cheerful, she
said to herself, whatever happened. It was her duty: she loved her home,
and wanted nothing else, oh, nothing else! Home and one's mother, what
could one want more?

But when Chatty heard all in a moment those plans which promised,
instead of the monotonous life to which she was accustomed, a new world
of novelty, of undiscovered distance, of gaieties and pleasure unknown,
her despair changed into alarm. Was it right, however pleasant it might
be, to go away; to abandon the Warren; to be no longer the young lady
of the house, doing everything for those about her, but a young woman
at large, so to speak, upon the world, getting amusements in her own
person, having nothing to do for anybody? Chatty did not know what to
think, what to reply to her mother. She cried, "O mamma!" with a gleam
of delight; and then her countenance fell, and she asked, "What will
Theo do alone?" with all the conscious responsibility of a sister, the
only unmarried sister left. But the question that was uppermost in her
mind did not really concern Theo. It was "What will Minnie say?" She
turned this over in her mind all day with a breathless sense that among
so many new things Minnie's opinion was a sort of support to her in
the whirlwind of change. Minnie had often said that nothing short of
necessity would make her leave the Warren. But then the firmness of
that assertion was somewhat diminished by the fact that Minnie had not
hesitated to leave the Warren when Mr. Thynne asked her to do so. Was
necessity another name for a husband? Chatty blushed at this thought,
though it seemed very improbable that any husband would ever appear to
suggest such a step to herself. Would Minnie still think that the only
motive; would she disapprove? Chatty went out by herself to take the
usual afternoon walk which her sister had always insisted upon. The day
was dull and gray for midsummer, and Chatty had not yet recovered from
the fatigue of yesterday. She allowed to herself that the trees were
sadly overgrown, and that it was quite dark within the grounds of the
Warren when it was still light beyond; and she permitted herself to
t