“I am sorry,” said the doctor, “that Mrs. Brinkly’s house is not likely to prove pleasant.  It is in a closely built portion of the town, but it seemed the only place where we could find suitable accommodations for your mother and you.”

“Oh, it is a nice place,” exclaimed Cicely, “and I am sure we shall like it, except in hot weather, such as we are having now.  I have no doubt we shall get used to it after a little while.”

“La Fleur does not think so,” said the doctor.  “She is very much dissatisfied with the Brinkly establishment.  I think I saw signs of mental disturbance in our luncheon to-day.”

Cicely laughed.  She was a girl who was pleasant to look at when she laughed, for her features accommodated themselves so naturally to mirthful expression.

“It is almost funny,” she said, “to see how fond La Fleur is of mother.  She lived with us less than a year, and yet one might suppose she had always been a servant of the family.  I think one reason for her feeling is that mother never does anything.  You know she has never been used to do anything, and of late years she has not been well enough.  La Fleur likes all that; she thinks it is a mark of high degree.  She told me once that my mother was a lady who was born to be served, and who ought not to be allowed to serve herself.”

“She does not seem to object to your working,” remarked the doctor.

“I am sure she does not like that, but then she considers it a thing that cannot be helped.  You know,” continued Cicely, with a smile, “she is not so particular about me, for I have some trade blood.  Father’s father was a merchant.”

“So you are only a grade aristocrat,” said the doctor; “but I must go.  I will talk to Mrs. Tolbridge about this affair of lodgings.”

That evening Mrs. Tolbridge and the doctor held a conference in regard to the quarters of the Dranes.

“I think La Fleur concerns herself entirely too much in the matter,” said the lady.  “She first came to me, and then she went to you.  You have done a good deal for Mrs. Drane in giving her daughter employment, and we cannot be expected to attend to her every need.  I do not consider Mrs. Brinkly’s house a very pleasant one in hot weather, and I would be glad to do anything I could to establish them more pleasantly, but I know of nothing to do, at least at present; and then you say they have not complained.  From what I have seen of Mrs. Drane, I think she is a very sensible woman, and under the circumstances probably expects some discomforts.”

“But that is not all that is to be considered,” said her husband.  “La Fleur’s dissatisfaction, which is very evident, must be taken into the question.  She has a scheming mind.  Before she left this morning she asked me if I thought a little house could be gotten outside the town, for a moderate rent.  I believe she would not hesitate to take such a house, and board and lodge the Dranes herself.”