“This,” I said, “is entirely your affair. I’ve washed my hands of it so I’m not even offering advice, but if I were you I’d be careful about anything in the way of physical violence. Remember that Lalage has Selby-Harrison behind her and he knows the law. You can see for yourself by the way he ferreted out that text of First Timothy that he has the brain of a first-rate solicitor.” I left the room after that. In the hall Miss Battersby waylaid me again. “Is it all right?” she asked anxiously. “Not quite. My uncle is writing to Miss Pettigrew.” “She won’t come. I’m sure she won’t. She told me herself when we were in Ballygore that for the future she intends to watch Lalage’s performances from a distance.” “She may make an exception in this case,” I said. “If my uncle states it at all fully in his letter it can scarcely fail to make an appeal to her.” Miss Battersby sighed. She was evidently not hopeful. “Lalage is such a dear girl,” she said. “It is a sad pity that she will----” “She’s always trying to do right.” “Always,” said Miss Battersby fervently. “That’s why it’s generally so difficult for other people.” “The world,” said Miss Battersby, “is very hard.” “And desperately wicked. If it were even moderately straightforward and honest Lalage would have been canonized long ago.” “She’s a little foolish sometimes.” “All great reformers,” I said, “appear foolish to the people of their own generation. It’s only afterward that their worth is recognized.” Miss Battersby sighed again. Then she shook hands with me. “I must go to Lord Thormanby,” she said, “He’ll want me to write his letters for him.” “He won’t want you to write that one to Miss Pettigrew. He has his faults of temper, but he’s essentially a gentleman, and he wouldn’t dream of asking you to write that particular letter for him. I don’t think you need go to him yet. Stay and talk to me about Lalage and the hardness of the world.” “If he doesn’t want me,” she said, “I ought to settle the flowers.” It really is a pity that Thormanby will not persuade the Archdeacon to marry Miss Battersby. Besides being sweet and lovable, as Lalage pointed out, she has a strong sense of duty which would be quite invaluable in the diocese. Very few people after an agitating morning would go straight off to settle flowers. CHAPTER XX