"Write to the man--" She paused and smiled contemptuously.
"Imagine a groom with an antipathy to cats!" she said, turning to
me. "I don't know what you think, Mina. I have a strong
objection, myself, to servants who hold themselves above their
position in life. Write," she resumed, addressing her husband,
"and tell him to look for another place."

"What objection can I make to him?" the General asked,
helplessly.

"Good heavens! can't you make an excuse? Say he is too young."

My uncle looked at me in expressive silence-- walked slowly to
the writing-table--and glanced at his wife, in the faint hope
that she might change her mind. Their eyes met--and she seemed to
recover the command of her temper. She put her hand caressingly
on the General's shoulder.

"I remember the time," she said, softly, "when any caprice of
mine was a command to you. Ah, I was younger then!"

The General's reception of this little advance was thoroughly
characteristic of him. He first kissed Lady Claudia's hand, and
then he wrote the letter. My aunt rewarded him by a look, and
left the library.

"What the deuce is the matter with her?" my uncle said to me when
we were alone. "Do you dislike the man, too?"

"Certainly not. As far as I can judge, he appears to be just the