"But she is so unjust!" cried Robinette. "I never heard of an Irish landlord in a novel who would practice such a piece of eviction. If I must stand by and see it done, then I shall assert my right to provide for Nurse and move her into a new dwelling. After you left the drawing room last night, I begged as tactfully as I could that Aunt de Tracy would sell me some of the jewels, so that she need not part with the land at Wittisham. She was very angry, and wouldn't hear of it. Then I proposed buying the plum-tree cottage, that it might be kept in the family, and she was furious at my audacity. Perhaps the Admiral's niece is _not_ in the family." "She cannot endure anything like patronage, or even an assumption of equality," said Lavendar. "You must be careful there." "Should I be likely to patronize?" asked Robinette reproachfully. "No; but your acquaintance with your aunt is a very brief one, and she is an extraordinary character; hard to understand. You may easily stumble on a prejudice of hers at every step." "I shouldn't like to understand her any better than I do now," and Robinette pushed back her hair rebelliously. "Will you be my client for about five minutes?" asked Lavendar. "Yes, willingly enough, for I see nothing before me but to take Nurse Prettyman and depart in the first steamer for America." Mrs. Loring looked as if she were quite capable of this rather radical proceeding, and very much, too, as if any growing love for Lavendar that she might have, would easily give way under this new pressure of circumstances. "This is the situation in a nutshell," said Lavendar, filling his pipe. "Mrs. de Tracy is entirely within her legal rights when she asks Mrs. Prettyman to leave the cottage; legally right also when she declines to give compensation for the plum tree that has been a source of income; financially right moreover in selling cottage and land at a fancy price to find money for needed improvements on the estate." "None of this can be denied, I allow." "All these legal rights could have been softened if Mrs. de Tracy had been willing to soften them, but unfortunately she has been put on the defensive. She did not like it when I opposed her in the first place. She did not like it when my father advised her to make some small settlement, as he did, several days ago. She resented Mrs. Prettyman's assumption of owning the plum tree; she was outraged at your valiant espousing of your nurse's cause." "I see; we have simply made her more determined in her injustice." "Now it is all very well for you to show your mettle," Lavendar went on, "for you to endure your aunt's displeasure rather than give up a cause you know to be just; but look where it lands us." Robinette raised her troubled eyes to Lavendar's, giving a sigh to show she realized that her landing-place would be wherever the lawyer fixed it, not where she wished it. "Go on," she sighed patiently.