"You, my kind friend, will do the honours," he said, "and we will ask
Mrs. Aylward to provide the entertainment."

"They will be quite propitiated by being asked to meet Dr. Godfrey,"
said Aurelia. "Shall you admit them, sir?"

"Certainly. You do not seem to find them very engaging company, but
they can scarce be worse than I should find in such an asylum as my
charming sister-in-law seems to have in preparation for me."

"Oh! I wish I had said nothing about that. It is too shocking!"

"Forewarned, forearmed, as the proverb says. Do you not see, my
amiable friend, that we are providing a body of witnesses to the
sanity of the recluse, even though he may 'in dark Cimmerian desert
ever dwell'?"

The visit took place; Dr. Godfrey greeted Miss Delavie as an old
friend, and the next day pronounced Mr. Belamour to be so wonderfully
invigorated and animated, that he thought my Lady's malignant plan
was really likely to prove the best possible stimulus and cure.

Then the Canon gratified the two old ladies by a morning call, dined
with Aurelia and her pupils, who behaved very well, and with whom he
afterwards played for a whole hour so kindly that they placed him
second in esteem to their big and beautiful brother. Mrs. Phoebe
and Mrs. Delia came dressed in the faded splendours of the Louis XIV.
period, just at twilight, and were regaled with coffee and pound cake.
They were a good deal subdued, though as Aurelia listened to the
conversation, it was plain enough what Mr. Belamour meant when he