May had never done so, though she knew they thought it was unkind of her. She took them presents and gave them money, but she dare not ask them to the Hall. And now about her father and stepmother she knew not what to do. At last she took courage and went to her husband, and put her father's letter in his hand. "I wish to ask them so much, John," she said. John read the letter, shrugged his shoulders, and then put his hand kindly on his wife's arm. "It will be an awful bore, little woman," he said. "Just for once, John," pleaded May, and John Temple finally allowed the invitation to be sent. But May never wished for her stepmother to be asked to dine at the Hall again. Mrs. Churchill went determined to show--to use one of her husband's phrase--that "she was as good as any of them." She went overdressed, to be received by her stepdaughter and Mrs. Temple both in black, and Mrs. Temple took a malicious pleasure in leading her on to make herself ridiculous. John Temple fidgeted in his chair, but Mrs. Temple enjoyed his discomfiture. She wished to make him feel what sort of family he had married into, and she certainly succeeded in her design. In fact the dinner was a most uncomfortable one, and only Mrs. Temple was amused. "My dear May, please never ask that good lady here again," said John Temple, after his father-in-law and his wife had taken their departure; "I really can not stand her." "Well, I must say," remarked Mrs. Churchill to her spouse, as they drove home together after the entertainment was over, "that a more stupid evening I never spent; it seems to me that May can scarcely be called the mistress of her own house, with Mrs. Temple sitting at the head of the table, and that kind of thing. However, we've dined there, and the neighbors can't say we've not, and we need not tell them it was anything but pleasant." "Well," answered Mr. Churchill, who was also much disappointed, "I think it is a pity May does not make more of herself. However, Mr. John Temple is my landlord as well as my son-in-law, so we must just make the best of things." CHAPTER XLV. ANOTHER HEIR. A whole year passed away after May's arrival at the Hall as John Temple's wife; a year with its chances and changes, when it became known in the neighborhood that it was hoped an heir was about to be born to Woodlea. The prospect of this event pleased John Temple greatly, but displeased Mrs. Temple. She did not wish this new and tender tie to draw closer the two she fain would part. But she was, of course, obliged to conceal her feelings. "But I hope," she one day said smiling to John Temple, "that when the interesting event comes off that your charming mother-in-law will not take up her abode here?" John Temple laughed. "Oh! nonsense," he said, "May would not care to have her here." Mrs. Churchill had, however, already hinted to May that she would like to be present, but May had her own ideas on the subject, and she accordingly acted on them.