"I'm giving you a great deal of work, Barbara," he would say. "But you must look on it as part of your training. You're learning to write good English. There's nothing like clear, easy, flowing sentences. You can't have literature without 'em. I might have written those passages myself. In fact, I can hardly distinguish--" His face shook over it; she noticed the tremor of imminent revision. "Still, I _think_ I should prefer 'babbling streams' here to 'purling streams.' Shakespearean." "I _had_ 'babbling' first," said Barbara, "but I thought 'purling' would be nearer to what you'd have written yourself. I forgot about Shakespeare. And babbling isn't exactly purling, is it?" "True--true. Babbling is _not_ purling. We want the exact word. Purling let it be.... "And 'lush.' Good girl. You remembered that 'lush' was one of my words?" "I thought it _would_ be." "Good. You see," said Mr. Waddington, "how you learn. You're getting the sense, the _flair_ for style. I shall always be glad to think I trained you, Barbara.... And you may be very thankful it _is_ I and not Ralph Bevan. Of all the jerky--eccentric--incoherent--" XI 1 It was Monday, the twenty-fourth day of November, in the last week of Fanny's fortnight in London. Barbara had been busy all morning with Mr. Waddington's correspondence and accounts. And now, for the first time, she found herself definitely on the track of Mrs. Levitt. In checking Palmer and Hoskins's, the Cheltenham builders, bill for the White House she had come across two substantial items not included in their original estimate: no less than fifteen by eight feet of trellis for the garden and a hot water pipe rail for the bathroom. It turned out that Mrs. Levitt, desiring the comfort of hot towels, and objecting to the view of the kitchen yard as seen from the lawn, had incontinently ordered the hot water rail and the trellis. There was that letter from Messrs. Jackson and Cleaver, Mr. Waddington's agents, informing him that his tenant, Mrs. Levitt, of the White House, Wyck-on-the-Hill, had not yet paid her rent due on the twenty-fifth of September. Did Mr. Waddington wish them to apply again? And there were other letters of which Barbara was requested to make copies from his dictation. Thus: "My Dear Mrs. Levitt" (only he had written "My dear Elise"),--"With reference to your investments I do not recommend the purchase, at the present moment, of Government Housing Bonds.