"I hope you sent the carriage round to the stables?" said Sir Timothy.

"No, no; we mustn't stop a minute. But I couldn't help just popping
in--so very long since I've seen you--and all this happening at once,"
said Mrs. Hewel. She was a large, stout woman, with breathless manner
and plaintive voice. "And I wanted to show you Sarah in her first
grown-up clothes, and tell you about _her_ too," she added.

"Bless me!" said Sir Timothy. "You don't mean to say little Sarah is
grown up."

"Oh yes, dear Sir Timothy; she grew up the day before yesterday," said
Mrs. Hewel.

"Sharp work," said the doctor, grimly.

"I mean, of course, she turned up her hair, and let her dresses down.
It's full early, I know, but it's such a chance for Sarah--that's
partly what I came about. After the trouble she's been all her life to
me, and all--just going to that excellent school in Germany--here's my
aunt wanting to adopt her, or as good as adopt her--Lady Tintern, you
know."

Everybody who knew Mrs. Hewel knew also that Lady Tintern was her
aunt; and Lady Tintern was a very great lady indeed.

"She is to come out this very season; that is why I took her to the
Gilberts', to prepare her for the great plunge," said Mrs. Hewel, not
intending to be funny. "It will be a change for Sarah, such a hoyden
as she has always been. But my aunt won't wait once she has got a