Oh no, indeed, I can't; please excuse me, Miss Leicester." "Oh let _me_ go," pleaded Rose, "I shall manage far better than Alice." "You!" exclaimed Isabel, "nonsense! Alice has more thought, besides she has the advantage of two or three inches in height, at all events." Alice remonstrated. "Not another word, Alice, you have to go," said Isabel; and Alice thought she had never seen Miss Leicester so peremptory. Isabel was not afraid to trust Alice. Once fairly installed as hostess she would do very well, though shy at first. "But he seems so very ill, and I shall not know what to do," said Alice. "You must tell them they were not expected until to-morrow, to explain your mamma's absence; and I will order up some refreshments, and tell Norris to have your brother's room ready for him." Poor Alice looked quite scared at the ordeal that was before her. "Mind you manage nicely, Allie dear, and make your brother comfortable," said Isabel, kissing her. And Alice, with a great sigh, left the room. Isabel would have been content to have done "the honors," as Rose termed it, had the Doctor been any other than Louis, but under the circumstances she was determined not to do so. Though firmly resolved to abide by this decision, she did not feel very comfortable, as she thought it not improbable that Everard would send for her. Indeed, he did tell Alice to bring her, but Alice, with her usual blunt manner, answered that Miss Leicester had refused to come, and had sent her. As Isabel had foreseen, Everard soon retired to rest after his journey, and she would have been nicely in for a long _tete-a-tete_ with Louis, which she did not choose. As it was, she sent Rose to help her sister to entertain the Doctor until her mamma came home; and, taking Amy with her, Isabel retired to her own apartment, to prevent the possibility of meeting him. The absentees returned early, and Mrs. Arlington came herself to request that Miss Leicester would endeavor to make the evening pass pleasantly to the gentlemen, as she and Grace had an engagement that evening, and as it was to be the ball of the season Grace did not wish to give it up. "Pray, excuse me, Mrs. Arlington," Isabel began. "Stay, Isabel, I know what you would say. The Doctor goes with us. Everard and his father will be alone, and I think you can find a song, a book, or something to amuse them." "I will try," said Isabel, well content now that Louis was not to be of the party. "One word more, Miss Leicester," said Mrs. Arlington, dismissing Amy. "I disapprove very much of the children being sent to entertain visitors, and I hope it will not occur again." Isabel felt hurt, but merely replied, "under the circumstances it might be excused." "No, Isabel, no; I cannot see any justifiable reason. It is more than two years since Dr. Taschereau was married, and if you have not got over that affair you ought to have done so, that is all I can say."