He hung down his head, and obeyed without a word.  She closed it, and laid it on the mantel-shelf, which served as a sort of pound for properties in sequestration.

‘Now, then, go,’ she said, ’you are too naughty for me to attend to you.’

‘But when will you, mamma?’ laying a hand on her dress.

‘I don’t know.  Go away now.’

He slowly obeyed, and as the door shut, she said, ‘There!’ in a tone as if her view was established.

‘You must send him to Fairmead,’ said the uncle.

’To “terrify” Winifred?  No, no, I know better than that; Gilbert can look after him.  I don’t so much care about that.’

The admission was eagerly hailed, and objection after objection removed, and having recovered her good humour, she was candid, and owned how much she wished to go.  ’I really want to make acquaintance with William.  I’ve never seen him since I came to my senses, and have only taken him on trust from you.’

‘I wish equally that he should see you,’ said her brother.  ’It would be good for him, and I doubt whether he has any conception what you are like.’

’I’d better stay at home, to leave you and Edmund to depict for his benefit a model impossible idol—­the normal woman.’

Maurice looked at her, and shook his head.

‘No—­it would be rather—­it and its young one, eh?’

Maurice took both her hands.  ’I should not like to tell William what I shall believe if you do not come.’

‘Well, what—­’

’That Edmund is right, and you have been overtasked till you are careful and troubled about many things.’

‘Only too much bent on generous self-devotion,’ said Mr. Kendal, eagerly; ‘too unselfish to cast the balance of duties.’

‘Hush, Edmund,’ said Albinia.  ’I don’t deserve fine words.  I honestly believe I want to do what is right, but I can’t be sure what it is, and I have made quite fuss enough, so you two shall decide, and then I shall be made right anyway.  Only do it from your consciences.’

They looked at each other, taken aback by the sudden surrender.  Mr. Ferrars waited, and her husband said, ’She ought to see her brother.  She needs the change, and there is no sufficient cause to detain her.’

‘She must be content sometimes to trust,’ said Mr. Ferrars.

‘Aye, and all that will go wrong, when my back is turned.’

‘Let it,’ said her brother.  ’The right which depends on a single human eye is not good for much.  Let the weeds grow, or you can’t pull them up.’

‘Let the mice play, that the cat may catch them,’ said Albinia, striving to hide her care.  ’One good effect is, that Edmund has not begun to groan.’

Indeed, in his anxiety that she should consent to enjoy herself, he had not had time to shrink from the introduction.

Outside the door they found Maurice waiting, his spelling learnt from a fragment of the indestructible spelling-book, and the question followed, ’Now, mamma, you wont say I’m too naughty for you to go to London and see Uncle William?’