114 MISS BADSWORTH, M.F.H. 



There was a slight stress upon the last word which Lavvy 

 understood but chose to ignore. 



" I think Aunt Lavinia will give up her London work for 

 the present, and then she will have more time. It is a 

 dreadful handful at first ; she does not appear to be at 

 home in the country, but she is quite different from what I 

 expected." 



*' Might I ask what you did expect ? " 



" Yes, you certainly may ask, but I hardly think I can 

 answer the question. I had only newspaper reports of meet- 

 ings to go upon. I suppose I thought Aunt Lavinia would 

 be a hard, mannish, bustling sort of person, very differently 

 dressed from what she is, who would have thought nothing 

 of being called upon to command an army, or a * fleet in 

 being,' or suddenly becoming Prime Minister ; instead of 

 which she is — a dear, just what you said she was, Mr. 

 Morgan." 



" Surely I never presumed to say she was ' a dear '. If I 

 recollect rightly " — and he felt pleased that Lavvy should 

 recall his opinion — ''I said she was 'a good sort'." 



" Did you ? Well, it means much the same thing." 



Lavvy made an attempt to be more distant, which failed 

 signally. Jack was not the sort of person to be easily 

 snubbed or put off, and the good-humoured smile which 

 Lavvy took in with a side glance assured her that if she 

 told him to go, which she had no intention of doing, he 

 would somehow turn the mandate into an invitation to 

 remain. 



*' Now, Mr, Morgan, I want you to be serious," she said. 



" Serious ! was I ever more serious in my life ? " he 

 exclaimed. 



" That I cannot tell you, as we are comparative strangers." 



** Well, never mind. We have broken up a fox together 

 on the wild and trackless Cornish moor, and that is some- 

 thing. One cannot fancy people being strangers who have 

 buffeted the aggressive ocean on a raft together ; and, bar- 

 ring the danger, there was something akin to that in what 



