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illness.
    “ You must get into the fresh air too ,” said the doctor. “ Take a walk in Kensington Gardens twice a week at least. Don ’ t trouble your head about your mother—she will do now. I shall return in four or five days, to see how she goes on. ”
    And he picked up his hat and cane and went down to his barouche.
    When he had gone Delphie lifted the lid of the pianoforte and removed from inside it an envelope which had arrived from Mr. Browty some five days previously. In it was a note, written hastily in large unformed characters:
    Dear Miss Carteret , Here is the recommendation to Lord Bollington that I promised you. Mind you use it, now, or I shall be uncommon vexed! I am also enclosing 10 Guineas to pay any expenses , besides some good professional Woman to mind your Mother while you are out of town , for I know otherwise you will not stir a Step , out of anxiety for the poor lady. Now do not be troubling your head about post-fees or the servants ’ accom m odation—I have told Bodkin he is to arrange all that. The village of Cow Green is not a stone ’ s throw from Chase , and the servants can rack up at the Inn there.
    I believe you shd take some Female Person as companion when you go—Ld.B was a very twitty old Chaw-Bacon & wd not countenance a young Lady gallivanting about the countryside unescorted.
    Write us a Note to the Hotel Creqy to tell how you go on — the girls and I will be Agog for news.
    Yr sincere well-wisher , Jos. Browty
    Enclosed were the ten guineas and an open envelope which had another note in it:
    My dear Lord Bollington ,
    You will recall me as had the Honour to do you a small Service when we was both convalessing from the megrims at Bad Risenback. This is to introduce to your Notise a young Connection of yours , Miss Carteret. Miss C is the best , most scrupulously honest young Lady of my acquaintance & wd no more conduct on Imposture than she wd commit Murder. Her Morals are Unblemishd , her Character direct & Sinsere , her Mind of a Purity the most Unecsepshionable & Limpid. Any that says she is capable of falsehood commits a most Gross Injustise , & in my Opinion she & her Ma has been treated with very Scandalous Inequity , whch I Hope will now be righted.
    Inquiries as to my Credentials may be directed to any Bank in the City of London , but most especial the City Cotton & Woollen Bank in Lombard St.
    I have the Honour to Subscribe Myself ,
    Yr Obdt. Srvt.
    Alderman Josiah Browty.
    Delphie glanced at her mother, who was sleeping peacefully after the exertion of receiving the doctor. Then she slipped downstairs to consult with the Miss Baggotts.
    “ For sure you must go! ” said Anne Baggott when the situation had been explained to her. “ Why, Miss Delphie, it might be the making of you, if your Great cousins would be brought to receive you. Lord bless me, if I had rich kin, I ’ d ha ’ been a-knocking at their gates years agone! And the gentleman offering his coach to take you, too—I call that real bang-up behavior. ”
    Delphie then cautiously opened to the sisters a proposal she had been turning over in her mind—that Miss Jenny might care to accompany her as a kind of chaperone.
    “ For Mr. Browty says—and I fear he is right—that my uncle will think but slightingly of me if I travel unescorted. ”
    “ Me? ” cried Jenny. “ Me travel in a coach—to a castle—to visit a lord? Lawks, Miss Delphie, I should just about think I would! Why, that ’ d be better than a play at the Pantheon—better than a visit to Vauxhall Gardens—better than anything! Oh, wait till I tell Maria! ”
    “ Shall you be able to manage without Jenny in the shop for a couple of days, though, Miss Anne? ” inquired Delphie, smiling at Jenny ’ s enthusiasm.
    “ Why, bless you, yes, miss. To tell truth, she ’ s no more use half the time than a wet hen, so harum-scarum and shatter-brained as she is, always running into the street if a hurdy-gurdy or a funeral goes by—and