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cap?”
    â€œNo, no, I treated it with great respect.”
    â€œWhat have you to do this evening, Amy?”
    â€œOh, I have just to write an essay.”
    â€œJust!” said Osbert. “Suppose we all had to write one! Perhaps we can all write this one.”
    â€œWhat is the subject matter?” said Erica.
    â€œOh, how to spend a day of leisure,” said Amy, consulting a notebook.
    â€œHow to prevent its being one is what is meant.”
    Amy did not acknowledge the assistance but gathered her materials and moved away.
    â€œHow much have you written?” said Jocasta, after a while. “Come and show me.”
    Amy sat up and put her hand over the page, her eyes dilating.
    â€œOh, it is nothing, Grannie. You would see it was. There is nothing there.”
    â€œIt is enough,” said Jocasta. “There can be great silences.”

Chapter IV
    â€œHere is a mild surprise for you,” said Eliza. “Old Mrs. Grimstone has called. Ostensibly to sympathise about the accident. Really to get a step further with our family. She wants you as friends for her grand-children. And it may do you no harm to know them better.”
    â€œHave we to know her better too?” said Angus. “That would do us harm.”
    â€œI know what you mean. One does not forget her presence. And there is the usual coincidence. Her grandchild goes to Hermia’s school, and she was struck by the name and asked me about it. Hermia’s scheme is going beyond itself. It was inherent in it.”
    â€œThat need do no one harm,” said Madeline. “It may even be good for the school. There is no point in keeping it obscure.”
    â€œI am not so sure. It can’t be too obscure for me. I wish it would fade away. It will always be raising its head. I have just had it thrust in my face. We have done the thing in the best way. But it remains what it is.”
    â€œWe must be grateful to Mrs. Grimstone,” said Angus. “She is helping to keep one of us employed.”
    â€œIt is not a joke,” said Eliza. “You cannot make it one.”
    â€œOh, I thought I had.”
    â€œI thought so too,” said Sir Robert, smiling. “And we need not be too grave. The piece of strategy won’t go far. It is late for change.”
    â€œNot too late for Mrs. Grimstone,” said Eliza. “She will build on any foundation. She wants the formal relationto become an intimate one. And I don’t dislike her in herself. There is nothing against her as a friend. She has her own quality. She is by no means an average woman.”
    â€œIt seems a many-sided position,” said Sir Robert.
    â€œIt is. And the sides don’t fit. We shall have to steer between them. We will ask the two young people here sometimes. Not too soon and not too often. Just so as to strike the mean and lead to a friendly relation.”
    â€œShe may not want the mean; and she is used to having what she wants.”
    â€œShe is certainly a law to herself. In a way I rather respect it.”
    â€œSo do I,” said Angus. “Other people are a law to me.”
    â€œWho would have thought Mrs. Grimstone would be a law to Mater?” said Roberta. “I daresay Mrs. Grimstone would. I think it seems she did.”
    The day came—not too soon, as Eliza had said—when Osbert and his sister were bidden to the Heriots’ house. They were shown to the young people and left with them, on the understanding that they were their guests.
    â€œThis is our grandmother’s idea disguised as yours,” said Erica. “And it is a kind disguise.”
    â€œIt is a most welcome idea,” said Madeline. “We have been looking forward to the day.”
    â€œWe would have done so,” said Osbert, “if we were able to look forward. The faculty has faded through lack of use.”
    â€œIt is not so vigorous in us,” said Angus. “We were glad for it to have