Lady Alice was at that moment in her bonnet and ample black velvet cloak and ermines, and the rest of her travelling costume, seated in her stately parlour, which, like most parlours of tolerably old mansions in that part of the country, is wainscoted in very black oak. In her own way Lady Alice evinced at least as much impatience as her dependants out of doors; she tapped with her foot monotonously upon her carpet; she opened and shut her black shining leather bag, and plucked at and rearranged its contents; she tattooed with her pale prolix fingers on the table; sometimes she sniffed a little; sometimes she muttered. As often as she fancied a sound, she raised her chin imperiously, and with a supercilious fixity, stared at the door until expectation had again expired in disappointment, when she would pluck out her watch, and glancing disdainfully upon it, exclaim-- "Upon my life!" or, "Very pretty behaviour!" At last, however, the sound of a vehicle--a "fly" it was--unmistakably made itself heard at the hall-door, and her ladyship, with a preparatory shake of her head, as a pugnacious animal shakes its ears, and a "hem," and a severe and pallid countenance, sat up, very high and stiffly, in her chair. The door opened, and the splendid footman inquired whether her ladyship would please to see Mrs. Gwynn. "Show her in," said Lady Alice with a high look and an awful quietude. And our old friend, Donica, just as thin, pallid, and, in her own way, self-possessed, entered the room. "Well, Donica Gwynn, you've come at _last_! you have kept my horses standing at the door--a thing I never do myself--for three-quarters of an hour and four minutes!" Donica Gwynn was sorry; but she could not help it. She explained how the delay had occurred, and, though respectful, her explanation was curt and dry in proportion to the sharpness and dryness of her reception. "Sit down, Donica," said the lady, relenting loftily. "How do you do?" "Pretty well, I thank your ladyship; and I hope I see _you_ well, my lady." "As well as I can ever be, Donica, and that is but poorly. I'm going, you know, to Marlowe." "I'm rayther glad on it, my lady." "And I wish to know _why_?" said Lady Alice. "I wrote the why and the wherefore, my lady, in my letter," answered the ex-house-keeper, looking askance on the table, and closing her thin lips tightly when she had spoken. "Your letter, my good Donica, it is next to impossible to read, and quite impossible to understand. What I want to know distinctly is, why you have urged me so vehemently to go to Marlowe."