"Thou idle prating hussy!" cried Rachel, turning hastily round to face her,--vexed, and yet laughing. "And if I have said such things in mine heat, what call hast thou to throw them about mine ears? Go get thee about thy business." "I have no business, at this present, Aunt Rachel." "Lack-a-daisy! that a cousin [then used in the general sense of relative] of mine should say such a word! No business, when a barrelful of wool waiteth the carding, and there is many a yard of flax, to be spun, and cordial waters to distil, and a full set of shirts to make for thy father, and Jack's gown to guard [trim] anew with lace, and thy mother's new stomacher--" "Oh, mercy, Aunt Rachel!" cried lazy Blanche, putting her hands over her ears. But Mistress Rachel was merciless--towards Blanche. "No business, quotha!" resumed that astonished lady. "And Margaret's winter's gown should, have been cut down ere now into a kirtle, and Lucrece lacketh both a hood and a napron, and thine own partlets have not yet so much as the first stitch set in them. No business! Prithee, stand out of my way, Madam Idlesse, for I have no time to spend in twirling of my thumbs. And when thou find thy partlets rags, burden not me withal. No business, by my troth!" Muttering which, Rachel stalked away, while Blanche, instead of fetching needle and thread, and setting to work on her new ruffs, fled into the garden, and ensconcing herself at the foot of the ash-tree, gazed up at the windows of the blue chamber, and erected magnificent castles in the air. Meanwhile, Clare, who had heard Rachel's list of things waiting to be done, and had just finished setting the lace upon Jack's gown, quietly possessed herself of a piece of fine lawn, measured off the proper length, and was far advanced in one of Blanche's neglected ruffs before that young lady sauntered in, when summoned by the breakfast-bell. The leech thought well of the young Spaniard's case. The broken arm was not a severe fracture--"right easy to heal," said he in a rather disappointed manner; the bruises were nothing but what would disappear with time and one of Rachel's herbal lotions. In a few weeks, the young man might expect to be fully recovered. And until that happened, said Sir Thomas, he should remain at Enville Court.