"What do you say to our having Miss Linders here for a time? I
have often thought of asking her, and this will be a good
opportunity. Do you object?"
"Not in the least, my dear; she is some sort of a cousin of
yours; is she not?"
"A remote one," said Mrs. Vavasour, smiling. "However, I am
very willing to make her acquaintance, especially if the poor
girl wants a change. I agree with Horace, that a too prolonged
course of Aunt Barbara must be trying."
"Why, I thought Mrs. Treherne was everything that was perfect
and admirable; she has never troubled us much with her
society, but I am sure I understood from you----"
"So she is," said his wife, interrupting him; "that is just
it--Aunt Barbara is quite perfect, a kind of ideal gentlewoman
in cultivation, and refinement, and piety, and everything
else; but she is, without exception, the most alarming person
I know."
"Well, let Miss Linders come by all means," repeated the
Doctor. "Isn't it nearly dinner-time? I am starving. I have
been twenty miles round the country to-day, and when I come in
I find that long-legged fellow Morris philandering away, and
have to listen to his vacuous nonsense for an hour.
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