modate herself. The Rectory stood on a rising ground, with a smooth piece of sloping lawn in front. At the foot of the lawn was a little wooded dell crossed by a rustic bridge, and rising from the other side of the dell were the gardens and fields attached to Yare Hall, a moderate-sized, square, redbrick Elizabethan house, with stone mullions and facings to the windows, and a thick shrubbery round it. Mrs. Patty crossed the lawn and the bridge, and then turned into a gravel path which skirted the dell. Presently she paused. 'The large pond, I suppose, my dear ?' 'Yes, Mrs. Patty; they were walking along the terrace at the top.' 'Very good. Run on, my dear, and tell them I am coming.' 'But, Mrs. Patty, Myra never thought of troubling you; she will be so vexed.' 'Run on, my dear; you can go quicker than I can.' And Mrs. Patty nodded her head good-naturedly, but moved for Juliet to pass her in a way which showed that she had no intention of having her will disputed. Juliet was out of sight almost immediately. Mrs. Patty followed at the same pace as before -not at all hurried, only determined. Three minutes more brought her in sight of the pond. It was, in fact, a pretty piece of water; the banks were clothed with birch and elms. To the right was an extensive wood; to the left, the village and the church. The three girls were grouped picturesquely upon the turf; and the glancing sunlight which fell upon them made the whole a picture for an artist. But Mrs. C Patty was not artistic; she walked straight up to Myra, placing her foot fearlessly as she went upon bramble and stinging nettle, and said: 'My dear, home is best for you; you will go back to the Hall with me.' Myra started up, exhibiting, as she rose, a dress covered with mud, and still dripping with water. 'Oh! no, Mrs. Patty; no, indeed I can't. Please, you must let me come to the Rectory. But it was so ill-natured of Juliet. I told her not to make a fuss. I begged her to go to the back-door. I can't go home. It is impossible.' Myra's face, usually pale and woe-begone, became crimson with excitement. Juliet looked at Catharine Verney, and laughed. Catharine shrugged her shoulders, and cast up her eyes; and Myra caught the expression of surprise, and was upon the point of storming again, when Mrs. Patty quietly drew her arm within hers, and said: 'We will come, my dear. You two girls, go to the Rectory, and tell Faith not to trouble herself, for Myra is going home to change her clothes.' We must go, I suppose,' whispered Catharine to Juliet. 'Yes, I suppose so; but poor Myra is in for a scolding.' 'Never mind the scolding, my dear,' said Mrs. Patty, overhearing them. 'Run off as fast as you can, and then come up to the Hall; and Juliet, you may tell Faith I shall certainly try and be back in time for the Clothing Club.' Myra walked by Mrs. Patty's side silently. It would have been difficult to say whether she was most cowed, frightened, or ashamed. For a girl of her age it certainly was rather humiliating to be taken home with a wet dress, after having tumbled into a pond. As they drew near the house she sidled a little away from Mrs. Patty, with the evident intention of making her way into the house by a back entrance, while she said apologetically, 'There may be company in the drawing-room. I know there is some one. Mrs. Verney is there. Mamma would rather not see me.' 'Your mamma had better see you, my dear; then she will know what to do for you. You are wet through, and I should make you go to bed.' 'What! in the middle of the day? For punishment-like a baby? Mrs. Patty, I won't; I never heard anything' Mrs. Patty gently tapped her on the arm. 'A warm bed, and a little hot wine and water, will keep you from taking cold, my dear. I always send the Doctor to bed when I think he is likely to take cold, and he says he quite enjoys it; only he can't go on with St. Augustine's Commentary. So now we will just rap at the drawing-room door, and tell your mamma all about it.' 'There is Annette in the drawing-room; I can't go in, Mrs. Patty, indeed I can't.' Myra slunk away, and nearly burst into tears. 'Well, then, I will, my dear; wait here for a moment, and I dare say your mamma will come out to you.' As the drawing-room door was opened by Mrs. Patty, Myra stole to one side so as not to be seen; and the moment it was closed again, she rushed up the stairs, and bolted herself into her own room. 21 CHAPTER III. FAITH and Mrs. Patty were singularly alike in outward form, but there were great divergences in their minds, greater than Faith would have been willing to allow. Faith knew nothing of such profound reverence as Mrs. Patty felt for the Doctor; perhaps for that reason she required more sympathy from other persons. She liked a little gossip, and was not fastidious as to the quarter from whence it came. Great as was her virtuous horror of homœopathic globules, she did not deem it at all necessary to shrink from communication with the one inhabitant of Yare who had been guilty of introducing them into the village; and even the startling fact that her master had been cajoled into the use of them was not sufficient to make her dread any similar influence upon herself. Strong in her own convictions, she often made an excuse, when sent on an errand into the village, to pay a few moments' visit to Miss Medley, just for the pleasure of triumphing over her, by informing her how 'Mrs. Patty had persuaded the Doctor to try a tonic, or a cup of coffee, or even, sometimes, a little brandy, which had done him a world of good; and how he had had quite a sweet nap afterwards in his arm-chair, and woke up as |