And with this he went away, shaking hands with Miss Cherry, who was very pale with agitation and disapproval. As for Edward, he gave her a very formal message from his mother about a drive which Cara was to take with her in the afternoon. He scarcely spoke to the girl herself, who indeed kept in the background and said nothing. Edward had grown quite pale: he bowed in a formal way, and spoke so stiffly that Miss Cherry was almost driven to self-assertion. ‘Pray don’t let Mrs. Meredith take any trouble about Cara’s drive,’ she said, drawing herself up. ‘Cara can get an airing very easily if this is troublesome.’ ‘What I said was that my mother would call at four,’ said the young man; and he bowed again and went away. With what a heavy heart he went downstairs, not seeing the pitiful look Cara stole at him as he went out, this time through the legitimate door, the neglect of which had caused all the mischief; no, not the neglect, but Oswald’s dreadful wicked levity and her own (as it almost seemed) crime. ‘I am going away,’ said Miss Cherry, with dignity. ‘I will not ask you what you don’t choose to tell me, Cara. I have seen enough for myself; but I can’t help saying that I go with a heavy heart. Your father and you have both gone out of my reach. It is not for me to blame you. I am old-fashioned, and prefer old ways, and perhaps it is you who know best.’ ‘Oh, Aunt Cherry,’ said the girl, in a passion of tears. ‘What can I say to you? You are mistaken, indeed you are mistaken. I am not concealing anything.’ ‘We will not speak of it, my dear,’ said Miss Cherry with trembling lips. ‘You are out of my reach, both your father and you. Oh, when I think how things used to be! What a good child you were--so true, so transparent! and now I don’t seem to know what truth is--everything is muddled up. Oh, I wonder if it is our fault! They say that to have a mother is everything; but I thought I had tried to be like a mother,’ cried Miss Cherry, giving way to the inevitable tears. ‘I am not false,’ said Cara, putting her arms round her. ‘Oh, Aunt Cherry, believe me. I did not know what he was going to do. It was to thank me, because he had been asking--my advice----’