"This is very edifying," said Florence quietly, as the young man broke off short in his speech, and turned away with a despairing stamp of the foot--his sister's face would have discomfited a man of far greater moral courage than poor Hubert Lepel--"it is something new for me to be lectured by my younger brother, whose course has surely not been quite irreproachable, I should imagine! Come, Hubert--do not be so absurd! You have acted according to your lights, as the old women say, and I according to mine. There is nothing more for us to talk about. Let us quit the subject; the past is dead." "I tell you that it is the future that I concern myself about. Upon my honor, Florence, I did not know that you were here when I came down to-day! I thought that you had gone to your friend Mrs. Bartolet at Worcester, as you said to me that you would when I saw you last. Why have you not gone? You said that life here was now intolerable to you. I remember your very words, although I have not been here for weeks." "Your memory does you credit," said the girl, with slow scorn. "Why have you stayed?" "For my own ends--not yours." "So I suppose." "My dear brother Hubert," said Florence, composing herself in a graceful attitude in the depths of her basket-chair, "can you not be persuaded to go your own way and leave me to go mine? You have done a good deal of mischief already, don't you know? You have ruined my prospects, destroyed my hopes--if I were sentimental, I might say, broken my heart! Is not that enough for you? For mercy's sake, go your own way henceforward, and let me do as I please!" "But what is your way? What do you please?" "Is it well for me to tell you after the warning I have had?" "If you had a worthy plan, an honorable ambition, you could easily tell me. Again I ask, Why are you here?" "Yes, why?" repeated Florence, her lip curling, and, for the first time, a slight color flushing her pale cheeks. "Why? Your dull wits will not even compass that, will they? Well, partly because I am a thoroughly worldly woman, or rather a woman of the world--because it is not well to give up a good home, a luxurious life, and a large salary, when they are to be had for the asking--because as Enid Vane's governess, I can have as much freedom and as little work as I choose. Is not that answer enough for you?" "No," said Hubert doggedly, "it is not." She shrugged her graceful shoulders.