looked at her too much, and talked to her too much.  When they spoke French together—­for Mr. Phillips was trying to revive his more than half-forgotten schoolboy French, and found he could do it more easily with Alice than with the foreigners—­Mrs. Phillips had a vague sense that they were talking about something that they did not want her to hear.  Elsie would have enjoyed this trip exceedingly, but for Mrs. Phillips’s unreasonableness and caprices; but, even in spite of them, she brought away many delightful recollections of scenes and people.  When on this tour, she felt as if she could write verses again, if she had only time and quiet.

When in Paris she called on Madame Lenoir with a letter of introduction from her cousin.  She received Elsie very kindly, and asked her and the Phillipses to her ‘at homes’; but as all the people there talked French, Mrs. Phillips did not find them at all entertaining, and she thought French hospitality a very shabby affair.  They did not remain long in Paris, but went down to Italy, and visited Florence and Rome.  Mr. Phillips wished he had had his two eldest girls with him in Italy, and promised to himself that next time he took the journey they should accompany him.

When they returned to London they found that all had gone well in their absence—­Francis had won his election; Jane appeared to be in excellent spirits; and the children had made good progress with their lessons.  Mr. Phillips appeared to miss his old friend and neighbour, Brandon, very much, and could not find any one of his colonial acquaintances who could fill up the blank which his departure from London had made.  Besides, they were always losing somebody out of their pleasant circle.  Every mail steamer, and every fine clipper ship that sailed for Australia seemed to take one or more from them; and though new people did come, they did not appear to be so agreeable as those who went away.  Mr. Phillips could not remain contented in London, so he proposed a trip to America with his wife and Alice as before; but Mrs. Phillips disliked the sea, and did not feel very well, so she said she would rather stay in London with the family, though it was getting rather late in the season for London.  She did not care to go to Derbyshire without him, far less to go to Scotland; so, if he could be so cruel as to leave her, she would prefer London.  If Emily had been a little older, Mr. Phillips would have taken her with him, for he disliked travelling alone, but she was too young, as he himself acknowledged.

Elsie could not understand the cause of Mrs. Phillips’s peculiarly disagreeable conduct to herself lately, and she was almost on the point of leaving her, and taking another situation, when the children, one after the other, took scarlatina, and in such a house of sickness she—­their favourite—­could not be spared.  All lessons, of course, were at an end.  Mrs. Phillips looked into the nursery several times a day, and said how sorry she was to