The doctor moved impatiently in his chair.

“Nonsense, Miss Panney.  Cicely Drane will not harm your plans.  She is a sensible, industrious girl, who attends to her own business, and—­”

“Precisely,” said Miss Panney; “and her own business will be to settle for life at Cobhurst.  She may not be courting young Haverley to-day, but she will begin to-morrow.  She will do it, and what is more, she would be a fool if she did not.  It does not matter what sort of a girl she is;” and now Miss Panney began to speak louder, and stood up; “it does not matter if she had five legs and two heads; you have no right to thrust any intruder into a household which I had taken into my charge, and for which I had my plans, all of which you knew.  You are a false friend, Dr. Tolbridge, and at your doorstep I have shaken the dust from my skirts and my feet.”  And with a quick step and a high head, she marched out of the room.

The doctor took a little book out of his pocket, and on a blank leaf wrote the following:—­

Rx. 
  Potass.  Bromid. 3iij
  Tr.  Dig.  Natis. m. xxx
  Tr.  Lavand.  Comp. ad 3iij
M.S. teaspoonful every three hours. 
H. D.

Having sent this to Miss Panney by a servant, he went his way.  Driving along, his conscience stung him a little when he thought of the fable his wife had told him; but the moral of the fable had made but little impression upon him, and as an antidote to the sting he applied his conviction that matchmaking was a bad business, and that in love affairs, as well as in many diseases, the very best thing to do was to let nature take its course.

When Miss Panney read the paper which had been sent to her, her eyes flashed, and then she laughed.

“The wretch!” she exclaimed; “it is just like him.”  And in the afternoon she sent to her apothecary in Thorbury for the medicine prescribed.  “If it cools me down,” she said to herself, “I shall be able to work better.”

CHAPTER XXVI

DORA COMES AND SEES

The call by the Bannisters at Cobhurst was made as planned.  Had storm or sudden war prevented Mrs. Bannister and Herbert from going, Dora would have gone by herself.  She did not appear to be in her usual state of health that day, and Mrs. Bannister, noticing this, and attributing it to Dora’s great fondness for fruit at this season and neglect of more solid food, had suggested that perhaps it might be well for her not to take a long drive that afternoon.  But this remark was added to the thousand suggestions made by the elder lady and not accepted by the younger.

Miriam was in the great hall when the Bannister family drove up, and she greeted her visitors with a well-poised affability which rather surprised Mrs. Bannister.  Dora instantly noticed that she was better dressed than she had yet seen her.

When they were seated in the parlor, Mrs. Bannister announced that their call was intended to include Mrs. Drane and her daughter, and Herbert hoped that this time he would be able to see Mr. Haverley.