“Certainly not!”

“I did not suppose he would, but I thought I would just ask you.  It would be rather marked not to invite him for the 3rd, you know; and Jenny was always so fond of poor Emily, kept up a correspondence with her to the last.  It was the first time she had met the little one since they came back.  Not that she is little now, she is very tall and quite handsome even by the side of Edith.  We just saw Lady Rosamond—­a sweet face—­and Herbert perfectly raves about her!”

“She is a most unselfish warm-hearted creature!” said Mrs. Poynsett.

“I am so glad!  And Miles’s wife, I hope she will come.  Poor thing, she looks very poorly.”

“Yes, I am very anxious about her.  If she is not better in a day or two, I shall insist on her having advice.”

“Poor dear, I don’t wonder!  But she had better come to Strawyers; Jenny will cheer her if any one can, and we shall have a nice lively party, I hope!  She will only mope the more if she never goes out.”

“I am afraid she is hardly equal to it; besides, poor child,” added Mrs. Poynsett, “she seems to have been strictly brought up, and to think our ways rather shocking; and Miles wrote to me not to press her to go into society till he comes home.”

“Ah! well, I call that a mistake!” puffed out good-humoured Mrs. Bowater.  “Very bad for the poor girl’s spirits.  By the bye, I hope Julius does not object to Herbert’s dancing—­not at a public ball, you know, but at home—­for if he did, I would try to arrange something else, it would be so hard for the poor boy to have to look on.”

“I don’t know, I don’t think he could,” said the mother, considering.

“You see, we thought of a dinner-party for as many as possible.  Frank and Charlie won’t mind dining in the schoolroom, I know, and having the rest for a dance in the evening; but if Julius did think it unclerical—­Jenny says he won’t, and papa laughs, and says, ’Poh! poh!  Julius is no fool;’ but people are so much more particular than they used to be, and I would not get the dear boy into a scrape for the world.”

Mrs. Poynsett undertook to ascertain his opinions on this knotty point, and to let her know if they were adverse; and then she begged for a visit from Jenny, whose brother had no accommodation for her in his lodgings.  She could not be spared till after the entertainment on the 3rd, nor till a visit from her married sister was over; but afterwards, her mother was delighted that she should come and look after Herbert, who seemed as much on the maternal mind as if he had not batted his way through Eton, and boated it through Oxford.

Mrs. Poynsett obtained her word with Julius in good time that evening.  He laughed a little.  “Poor Herbs! when will people understand that it is the spirit of the thing, the pursuit, not the individual chance participation in any particular amusement, that is unclerical, as they are pleased to call it?”