baronet was in Parliament; she received a good deal and was obliged
to entertain her guests.'

Poor Clara! she was really very unobtrusive and very modest, but
there had been constant sympathy between her and her father, not the
dumb sympathy as between man and dog, but that which can manifest
itself in human fashion.



CHAPTER III



Clara and her father were both chess-players, and at the time at
which our history begins, Clara had been teaching Madge the game for
about six months.

'Check!' said Clara.

'Check! after about a dozen moves. It is of no use to go on; you
always beat me. I should not mind that if I were any better now than
when I started. It is not in me.'

'The reason is that you do not look two moves ahead. You never say
to yourself, "Suppose I move there, what is she likely to do, and
what can I do afterwards?"'

'That is just what is impossible to me. I cannot hold myself down;
the moment I go beyond the next move my thoughts fly away, and I am