No, let me finish, Uncle Max,'--for he wanted to interrupt me here.
'They made a great fuss about my training at the hospital last year,
but I am sure they did not miss me; Sara spoke yesterday as though she
thought I was going back to St. Thomas's, and Aunt Philippa made no
objection. I heard her tell Mrs. Fullerton once "that really Ursula was
so strong-minded and different from other girls that she was prepared for
anything, even for her being a female doctor."'

'Well, my dear, you are certainly rather peculiar, you know.'

'Oh, Uncle Max,' I said mournfully, 'are you going to misunderstand me
too? Providence has deprived me of my parents and my only brother: is it
strong-minded or peculiar to be so lonely and sad at heart that gaiety
only jars on me? Can I forget my mother's teaching when she said,
"Ursula, if you live for the world you will be miserable. Try to do your
duty and benefit your fellow-creatures, and happiness must follow"?'

'Yes, poor Emmie, she was a good woman: you might do worse than take
after her.'

'She would not approve of the life I am leading at Hyde Park Gate,' I
went on. 'She and Aunt Philippa never cared for each other. I often think
that if she had known she would not have liked me to be there. Sundays
are wretched. We go to church?--yes, because it is respectable to do so;
but there is a sort of reunion every Sunday evening.'

'I wish I could offer you a home, Ursula; but--' here Uncle Max
hesitated.

'That would not do at all,' I returned promptly. 'Your bachelor home