“No,” said Jeanie, with a little shiver.

He shook his head at her.  “Then let us institute the habit at once!  I cannot have you becoming slack just because you are away from home.  If this indolence continue, I shall be compelled to have you back under my own eye.  I clearly see that the self-indulgent life you lead here is having disastrous results.  You will bathe with me to-morrow at seven-thirty, after which we will have half an hour of physical exercise.  Then after a wholesome breakfast you will feel renewed and ready for the day’s work.”

Avery, when this programme was laid before her, looked at him in incredulous amazement.

“But surely Dr. Wyndham explained to you the serious condition she is in!” she exclaimed.

Mr. Lorimer smiled his own superior smile.  “He explained his point of view most thoroughly, my dear Lady Evesham.”  He always pronounced her name and title with satirical emphasis.  “But that—­very curious as it may appear to you—­does not prevent my holding a very strong opinion of my own.  And it chances to be in direct opposition to that expressed by Dr. Maxwell Wyndham.  I know my own child,—­her faults and her tendencies.  She has been allowed to become extremely lax with regard to her daily duties, and this laxness is in my opinion the root of the evil.  I shall therefore take my own measures to correct it, and if they are in any way resisted or neglected I shall at once remove the child from your care.  I trust I have made myself quite explicit.”

He had.  But Avery’s indignation could not be contained.

“You will kill her if you persist!” she said.  “Even as it is—­even as it is—­her days are numbered.”

“The days of all of us are numbered,” said the Reverend Stephen.  “And it behoves us to make the very utmost of each one of them.  I cannot allow my child’s character to be ruined on account of a physical weakness which a little judicious discipline will speedily overcome.  The spirit must triumph over the flesh, Lady Evesham.  A hard rule for worldlings, I grant you, but one which must be observed by all who would enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Argument was futile.  Avery realized it at the outset.  He would have his way, whatever the cost, and no warning or entreaty would move him.  For the rest of that day she had to stand by in impotent anguish, and watch Jeanie’s martyrdom.  During the afternoon he sat alone with her, conducting the intellectual examination which Jeanie had so dreaded, reprimanding, criticizing, scoffing at her ignorance.  In the evening he took her for what he called a stroll upon which Avery was not allowed to accompany them.  Mr. Lorimer playfully remarking that he wished to give his young daughter the benefit of his individual attention during the period of his brief sojourn with them.

They returned from their expedition at eight.  Avery was walking to and fro by the gate in a ferment of anxiety.  They came by the cliff-road, and she went eagerly to meet them.