'" Like an army defeated
The choir retreated;
And now doth fare well
In the valley's soft swell,"'


said the aunt.

'At least you have survived; or is this the reaction,' said the
nephew, putting on a languid air.

'There were some very nice people among them, on whom the pictures
were by no means thrown away. What would you say, Mark, if I told
you that I strongly suspect that I have seen your lost aunt?'

'Nonsense!' cried Mark, as emphatically as disrespectfully.

'I am not joking in the least,' said Lady Kirkaldy, looking up at
him. 'I heard the name of Egremont, and made out that it belonged to
a very lady-like pretty-looking woman in gray and white; she seemed
to be trying to check and tame a bright girl of eighteen or so, who
was in a perfect state of rapture over the Vandykes. I managed to
ask the clergyman who the lady was, and he told me she was a Mrs.
Egremont, who lives with her aunt, a Miss Headworth, who boards girls
for the High School; very worthy people, he added.'

'Headworth?'