ground_). It must be a long way, Ma'am. Did she make a comfortable
start, Ma'am?

JULIA. Very quietly, I'm told. No pain.

HANNAH. I wonder what she'll be able to eat now, Ma'am. She was always
very particular.

TULIA. I daresay you will be told soon enough. (_Thus in veiled words
she conveys that Hannah knows something of Mrs. James's character_.)

HANNAH (_resignedly_). Yes, M'm.

JULIA. I don't think I'll wait any longer. If you'll bring in tea now.
Make enough for two, in case: pour it off into another pot, and have it
under the tea-cosy.

HANNAH. Yes, Ma'am.

(_Left alone, the dear lady enjoys the sense of herself and the small
world of her own thoughts in solitude. Then she sighs indulgently_.)

JULIA. Yes, I suppose I would rather it had been Martha. Poor Laura!
(_She puts out her hand for her crochet, when it is arrested by the
sound of a knock, rather rapacious in character_.) Ah, that's Laura all
over!

(_Seated quite composedly and fondling her well-kept hands, she awaits
the moment of arrival. Very soon the door opens, and the over-expected
Mrs. James--a luxuriant garden of widow's weeds, enters. She is a lady