‘Ay, my lass, that’s a good thought. Don’t put it back, Nell, but carry it to your bedroom and put it a-top of the wardrobe. It will be safe enough there, and when we’re a bit less busy you shall write a label for it. It’s arsenic, I believe. I know last year father gave a drop or two by mistake to one of the cats that was bad in its inside, and the poor beast was dead in a few minutes. _This_ is the cows’ mixture,’ said Mrs Llewellyn, pulling out a second bottle from the recesses of the old trunk. ‘Not dissimilar looking, are they? but, Lor’, what a difference in their effects. This is some of the finest stuff we ever had, made from a receipt of farmer Owen’s. Take it down to father at once, Nell, for he’s in a hurry for it. and I’ll fetch the blanket. And don’t forget to put the other a-top of your wardrobe,’ she called out after her daughter. The poor cow was very bad, and for some hours the whole household was occupied in providing remedies and applying them. When ten o’clock struck, and the animal was pronounced to be out of danger, Nell was regularly tired out, and hardly inclined to sit down to supper with her parents, but the farmer would not hear of her leaving them. ‘Come on, lass,’ he said; ‘I’ve news for you, only this bothering cow put it clean out of my head. Grand news, Nelly. You’ll never guess it, not if you tried for a twelvemonth.’ Nell returned to the table, white and scared looking. ‘News about _me_, father?’ she said. ‘Well, not about you exactly, but that concerns you all the same. Now, who do you suppose has come to the Hall, and is staying along of Sir Archibald?’ Then she knew he had heard of Lord Ilfracombe’s arrival, and set her teeth, lest she should betray herself. ‘How should I know, father?’ she said tremblingly. ‘I haven’t been near Mrs Hody for the last week. Is it the prince whom they expected?’ ‘The prince, be d--d!’ exclaimed the farmer. ‘What’s the value of a foreign prince beside one of our own English noblemen? I wouldn’t give you _that_ for the prince,’ snapping his fingers. ‘No; it is somebody much better and higher. It’s your old master, the Earl of Ilfracombe, and his lady. What do you think of that?’ ‘The Earl of Ilfracombe!’ echoed Nell, in order to gain time. ‘But who told you, father?’ ‘Jackson, the coachman, to be sure, who drove them both home from the railway station, and who should know better than he? He says the earl is a fine-looking young man, as fair as daylight, and his lady is a nice, pretty creature too. I thought I should surprise you, Nell. You’ll be wanting to go up to the Hall to see ’em both, now, won’t you?’ ‘Oh, father, why should I go to see them? His lordship won’t want to see me. Most likely he’s forgotten my very name.’