CHAPTER XVI. 



Miss Badsworth was as punctual as a well-regulated town 

 clock. She seated herself at the breakfast table almost as 

 soon as the gong sounded. The cares of ownership had 

 preyed upon her, and more than once in the night she had 

 awakened under a nightmare of responsibility. The bright 

 sunshine of the June morning made matters appear more 

 cheerful, but the heap of correspondence, though it was 

 chiefly composed of answers to her advertisement for a sec- 

 retary, brought back the stern realities of her position. 



She selected a letter from Mrs. Dickinson as an accom- 

 paniment to her tea and toast. As far as peace and repose 

 went she had better have left it alone, as a man would have 

 done. Mrs. Dickinson ventured to rebuke Miss Badsworth 

 for failing to support the Humanitarian Society ; she reported 

 that difficulties were arising in the working of the Society 

 for taking over the Responsibility of Parents which Miss 

 Badsworth had temporarily handed over during her absence. 

 Parents who had availed themselves of the society did not 

 belong to a very desirable class, and some of them were 

 already seeking compensation. It was impossible to find 

 any one to take up the Persian History Scholarships, and 

 consequently things were getting into a muddle. Would 

 she, Miss Badsworth, speak at a meeting of the Servant 

 Girls' Athletic Association, and would she 



Miss Badsworth put down the letter with a certain ten- 

 dency towards despair, and with her brother's words ringing 

 in her ears, " People were made to do work and not manu- 

 facture it," just as her niece entered, holding the door for a 

 moment to permit the passage of Johnnie. 



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