a girl's
neck. I'd give a tiny, tiny pull. In fact, I _did_ give one
yesterday--one which I've been wanting to give ever since I received
your letter. But actually, till yesterday, I never got a chance. I
"made" several, but they always went to bits, like a child's house of
cards. Poor me! That is part of the creature's cleverness. I think she
knew by instinct that I had something nasty to say, and she kept dodging
about, preventing me from laying hands (I won't say claws) on her.

Dick, too, she has kept in the same position, waiting for an opportunity
to pounce. Indeed, she has handled us both surprisingly well,
considering her age and bringing up. I have a certain respect for her.
But one often respects people one dislikes, doesn't one? At least,
really nice, amusing people of my type do.

Exactly what Dick wants to do with his white mouse when he has pounced
on it I have no means of knowing, for since a slight misunderstanding,
not to say row, which we had on the night of his return from Scotland
and you, a certain reserve has fallen between us, like a stage curtain.
He is on the stage side; I am in the position of audience. But I was
never in doubt for a moment as to what would follow _my_ pounce,
provided the mouse didn't prove too strong for me--and I don't think it
has. My pretty little ladylike bite must have left a mark on the velvet
fur.

I dare say I have excited your curiosity by referring to a "row" with
Dick, and lest you neglect my interests in the rest of the letter, to
brood upon his, I'd better pander at once to your maternal anxiety.

He wouldn't have confessed to me anything you had told him about Miss
Lethbridge's antecedents, for the very good reason that he hangs onto
her with the grip of a bulldog on a marrow-bone; but as I was armed with
your letter (I found it waiting for me at Bideford) containing full
information, he saw it was no use to keep anything back.

If I had had the letter a little earlier I might not have racked my
valuable brain as violently as I did to give him a chance alone with
Ellaline. I arranged for him to find her deserted at King Arthur's
Castle, like Mariana in her moated grange; but on reading what you had
to say, I admit I had qualms as to the wisdom of my policy where Dick's
future was concerned. However, even then I trusted to myself to save him
if it came to the worst; and it might have been valuable for my future
if things had happened "according to schedule"-