‘You mustn’t blame Lord Ilfracombe, Hetty!’ said her sister, hastily, ‘for it’s not his fault. He would let me go to Usk if I asked him, I daresay; but I have the charge of all the other servants you see, and where would the house be without me? It is not as if there was a lady at the head of affairs.’ ‘Then why doesn’t he marry and get his wife to do all that for him?’ demanded Hetty, with the audacity of ignorance. ‘It does seem strange that a gentleman with such a heap of money should remain a bachelor. What does he do with it all, I wonder? And what is the good of such a big house to a man without a wife? Wouldn’t you rather that he was married, Nell? It must be so funny taking all your orders from a man.’ ‘You don’t understand, Hetty,’ said Miss Llewellyn. ‘Lord Ilfracombe does not give me any orders. He never interferes in the household arrangements. It is to save himself all that trouble that he has engaged me. I hardly ever see him--that is, about dinners, or anything of that sort. When he is going to have a party, he tells me the number of people whom he expects, and I prepare for them accordingly. But this is all beyond your comprehension. It is past five o’clock. You and William will be glad of some tea.’ Miss Llewellyn rose and rang the bell as she spoke, and having given her orders to a very magnificent looking footman, at whose servility Hetty stared, she resumed the conversation. ‘Where are you two staying in town?’ ‘We have some rooms in Oxford Street,’ replied her sister. ‘Do you remember Mrs Potter, Nell, who took Mrs Upjohn’s cottage when her husband died? Her sister lets lodgings, and when she heard we were coming to London for our honeymoon, she wrote to her sister to take us in, and we are very comfortable there, aren’t we, Will? And it’s such a grand situation, such lots of things to see; and Mrs Potter said, as it might be our last chance for many a day, we ought to see as much as we could whilst we are here.’ ‘I think she is quite right,’ replied Miss Llewellyn, smiling; ‘and I should like to add to your pleasure if possible. Will you come out with me and have some dinner after your tea, and go to a theatre in the evening?’ ‘Oh, Nell, we had our dinner at one o’clock--roast pork and French beans, and very good it was, I suppose, for London town, though nothing like our pork at Usk. And aren’t the strawberries and cherries dear here? Will gave sixpence this morning for a leaf of fruit that you’d throw over the hedge to a beggar child in Usk. I told the woman in the shop that she ought to come to Panty-cuckoo Farm if she wanted to see strawberries; but she said she had never heard of such a place.’