48 A ihental Struggle.
velli himself might be * understanded of a woman' in a
week."
" Of your grace, madam, a week it shall be," says Felix ;
and then he turns to Imogen, who is bending over a huge
nankeen bowl full of late fiowers. " In the meantime
IMiss Heriot, may I hope for a good word from you that
may further my cause ? "
" Certainly—two for so good a purpose," returns she
graciously, lifting her head from her flowers, and smiling
upon him the sweet cold smile that always cliills to death
his very heart's blood.
The room in which they are all assembled is not the
library (though one might perhaps imagine it to be a
very dissipated t-wig ofl" such a stem), but one of those
cosy, comfortable, eccentrically furnished rooms that find
a place in most houses under the name of schoolroom,
and is, perhaps, the pleasantest apartment in the whole of
The Chevies. There is a good deal of panelling about it in
old oak, and a few soft chintz-covered chairs of a lounging
description; a Valery jar or two ; a clock that keeps no
time, and is, therefore, to be beloved; a faded but downy
sofa, that corrrts sleep ; an ancient armchair ; a mahogany
table, that has seen service, and a fioor that could not be
improved. It is a room utterly devoid of luxuries, in
which the flowers for the drawing rooms and dining-rooms
are arranged upon the aforesaid much-abused mahogany
table; but it is, nevertheless, the best-loved retreat in all
the house.
" Where is Pat ? " asks Sandie suddenly-------
The words have hardly left his lips when a glass door is
thrown wide, and Patricia herself enters the room, accom¬
panied by Elinor Brown, both laden with flowers.
Patricia, seeing the unexpected Sylvia, drops all her
flowers upon the ground, and runs towards her.
" Sylvia 1 " she cries, with eager delight, enveloping that
pretty creature in a pair of loving arms.
A little latter Miss Brown is introduced, and returns
Sylvia's careless, kindly salutation with the faintest, stiffest
little inclination possible.
" She is unbearable," Miss Yelverton assures herself,
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