morning she went downstairs a little later than usual, but there was
no Helen. She ran up to her bedroom. It was empty; she had slept
there that night, but her box was packed and directed, and there was
a paper on it to say that the carrier would call for it. Miss
Toller was confounded. She would have rushed to the station, but
the first train had gone. She was roused by the milkman at the area
door, and hastened down to light the fire. At first she resolved to
excuse Helen's absence on the ground that it was Boxing Day, but she
would almost certainly not return, and after breakfast Miss Toller
went upstairs and told her lodgers that Helen had left. Mrs.
Poulter managed to acquaint Mr. Goacher and Miss Taggart that she
desired to speak to them when Mrs. Mudge and Miss Everard were out
of the way, and at midday there was a conference. Mrs. Poulter
declared that the time had now arrived for decisive action, so far
as she was concerned. Mrs. Mudge's behaviour could not be endured.
Her insolence in the matter of the newspaper (this will be explained
in a moment), and her contempt for what was sacred, made it
impossible without loss of self-respect to live with her. The
servant's sudden departure for reasons unknown, had, to use Mrs.
Poulter's words, 'put the coping-stone to the edifice.' The
newspaper grievance was this. The Morning Post was provided by Miss
Toller for her boarders. Mrs. Poulter was always the first to take
it, and her claim as senior resident was not challenged. One
morning, however, Mrs. Mudge, after fidgeting for a whole hour,
while Mrs. Poulter leisurely scanned every paragraph from the top of
the first page down to the bottom of the last, suggested that the
paper should be divided, as other people might wish to see it. Mrs.
Poulter dropped her eye-glass and handed Mrs. Mudge the outside
sheet, with the remark that if she would but have intimated politely
that she was in a hurry, she could have had it before.