very stiff attitude, holding her umbrella across her knees. After a
rather nervous survey of the room, (it had changed very little in
appearance since her last visit six years ago), she fell into uneasy
thoughtfulness, now and then looking impatiently towards the door.
When the hostess at length appeared, she rose with deliberation, her
lips just relaxed in a half-smile.

"So it is really you!" exclaimed Mrs. Lashmar, in a voice of forced
welcome. "I thought you must have altogether forgotten us."

"It's the first time I have returned to Alverholme," replied the
other, in a contrasting tone of calmness.

"And what are you doing? Where are you living? Tell me all about
yourself. Are you still at the hospital? You did get a place at a
hospital, I think? We were told so."

Mrs. Lashmar's patronage was a little more patronizing than usual,
her condescension one or two degrees more condescending. She had
various reasons for regarding Constance Bride with disapproval, the
least of them that sense of natural antipathy which was inevitable
between two such women. In briefest sentences Miss Bride made known
that she had given up dispensing two years ago, and was now acting
as secretary to a baronet's widow.

"A baronet's widow?" repeated the hostess, with some emphasis of
candid surprise. "Row did you manage that? Who is she?"

"An old friend of my family," was the balanced reply. "Lady Ogram,
of Rivenoak, near Hollingford."