their tea and leave her in the kitchen, she was best there, out of people’s way; it would soon be bedtime, the evening was practically gone.  In the course of half an hour she was at length prevailed upon to come into the sitting-room, and even to taste a cup of tea.  At first she had paid no attention to the reasons alleged for the unpunctuality; little by little she began to ask questions on her own account, petulantly but with growing interest.  Still, the headache was not laid aside, and all spent a very dolorous evening.

In the relation these things have their humorous side; Emily may be excused if she was slow to appreciate it.  She knew very well that the crisis meant for her father several days of misery, and perhaps in her youthful energy she was disposed to make too little allowance for her mother, whose life had been so full of hardship, and who even now was suffering from cares and anxieties the worst of which her daughter was not allowed to perceive.  After the girl’s early departure to her bedroom the other two sat talking drearily; after one of her headaches Mrs. Hood always dwelt in conversation on the most wretched features of her life, with despairing forecast.  Poor woman, there was little of a brighter kind to occupy her thoughts.  Two occasions of grave anxiety were at present troubling her, and, though he spoke of them less, her husband in no less a degree.  It had just been announced to them that at the ensuing Christmas their rent would be raised, and at the same time the tenant who had for years occupied the house which they owned in the town of Barnhill had given notice of departure.  There was a certain grotesqueness in the fact of James Hood being a proprietor of real estate.  Twice an attempt had been made to sell the house in question, but no purchaser could be found; the building was in poor repair, was constantly entailing expense to the landlord, and, in the event of its becoming unoccupied, would doubtless wait long for another tenant.  This event had come about, or would in a couple of months, and the loss of that five-and-twenty pounds a year would make the difficulty of existence yet more desperate.  Once more an attempt at sale must be made, in itself involving outlays which, however petty, could ill be borne; and to sell, even if it could be done, meant a serious loss of income.

‘What did it mean, do you think?’ Mrs. Hood asked, recurring to the subject of Dagworthy and his astonishing behaviour.  She put the question dispiritedly, not venturing to hope for a solution that would help her to a more cheerful frame of mind.

Hood scarcely dared to utter the words which came into his mind.

‘You remember that they met at the Baxendales’—­’

‘How did Emily behave?’ the mother next inquired.

’She was very quiet.  I don’t think she liked it.  We must bear in mind the kind of society she is used to.  Young Dagworthy won’t seem of much account to her, I fancy.’