"Oh, no, so much better than that. _It's got Grumps._"

"Got her, what has got her? What is 'it'?"

"Why, Chancery, of course. I always call Chancery 'it.' I wouldn't
take its name in vain for worlds. I am too much afraid. I might be
made to 'show a cause why,' and then be locked up for contempt, which
frequently happens after you have tried to 'show a cause.' That is
what has happened to Grumps. She is now showing a cause; shortly she
will be locked up. When she comes out, if she ever does come out, I
think that she will avoid wards in Chancery in future; she will have
too much sympathy with them, and too much practical experience of
their position."

"But what on earth do you mean, Maria? What has happened to Miss
Gregson?" (_anglice_ Grumps).

"Well, you remember one of my guardians, or rather his wife, got 'it'
to appoint her my chaperon, but my other guardian wanted to appoint
somebody else, and after taking eighteen months to do it, he has moved
the court to show that Grumps is not a 'fit and proper person.' The
idea of calling Grumps improper. She nearly fainted at it, and swore
that, whether she lived through it or whether she didn't, she would
never come within a mile of me or any other ward if she could help it,
not even the ward of an hospital. I told her to be careful, or she
would be 'committing contempt,' which frightened her so that she
hardly spoke again till she left yesterday. Poor Grumps! I expect she
is on bread and water now; but if she makes herself half as
disagreeable to the Vice-Chancellor as she did to me, I don't believe