He pointed to the maps, and Miss Ashton laughed.

"Mrs. Graves was here yesterday; she is very clever, you know; and when
something was being said about the course of ships out of England, I made
some dreadful mistakes. She took me up sharply, and papa looked at me
sharply--and the result is, I have to do a heap of maps. Please tell me
if it's right, Percival?"

She held up her pencilled work of the morning. He was laughing.

"What mistakes did you make, Anne?"

"I am not sure but I said something about an Indiaman, leaving the London
Docks, having to pass Scarborough," she returned demurely. "It was quite
as bad."

"Do you remember, Anne, being punished for persisting, in spite of the
slate on the wall and your nursery-governess, that the Mediterranean lay
between Scotland and Ireland? Miss Jevons wanted to give you bread and
water for three days. How's that prig Graves?" he added rather abruptly.

Anne Ashton laughed, blushing slightly. "He is just as you left him; very
painstaking and efficient in the parish, and all that, but, oh, so stupid
in some things! Is the map right?"

"Yes, it's right. I'll help you with the rest. If Dr. Ashton--"

"Why, Val! Is it you? I heard Lord Hartledon had come down."