"We!" exclaimed Sir Charles; "why, do you mean to say that _you_ are coming to stay at my house?" "Of course I am. Mrs. Hammond told me that she gave you distinctly to understand that she must bring Miss Gillespie with her when she came to stop at Redmoor." "True; but then--" "Then you did not know Miss Gillespie. Well, you'll find she's not a bad fellow, after all." "Look here," said Mitford with knitted brows and set teeth: "there's a point to which you may go, but which you sha'n't pass. If you dare to come into my house as my guest, look to yourself; for, by the Lord, it shall be the worse for you!" "The privileges of the salt, monseigneur!" cried Miss Gillespie, with a crisp laugh; "the salt, 'that sacred pledge, which once partaken blunts the sabre's edge.' You would never abuse the glorious rites of hospitality?" "You were always fond of d--d stage-jargon; but you ought to have known me long enough to know that it would have no effect on me. Take the warning I've given you in good part, and stay away." "And take the warning I give you in good part and in good earnest, Charles Mitford," said Miss Gillespie, with a sudden change of voice and manner; "I've been tolerant to you hitherto for the sake of the old times which I love and you loathe; but don't you presume upon that. I could crush you like a snail: now this is no stage-jargon, but simple honest fact. You'll recollect that though perhaps a little given to rodomontade, in matters of business I was truthful. I can crush you like a snail; and if you cross me in my desires,--which are of the humblest; merely to be allowed to continue my present mode of life in peace,--so help me Heaven, I'll do it!" All claws out here. "You mean war, then? "Hush! not a word; here's Mrs. Hammond coming down. I _do_ mean war, under circumstances; but you won't drive me to that. Yes, as you say, Sir Charles, it is the very place for an invalid." As she spoke Mrs. Hammond entered the room, looking very fresh and pretty; her dark-blue merino dress with its close-fitting body displaying her round figure, and its sweeping skirts, and its tight sleeves, with natty linen cuffs. She advanced with outstretched hand and with a pleasant smile, showing all her fresh wholesome teeth. "So you've come at last," she said; "it's no great compliment to say that we have anxiously expected you--for anything like the horror of this place you cannot imagine. Everybody you meet looks as if that day were their last, and that they had just crawled out to take farewell of the sun. And there's not a soul we know here, except the doctor who's attending Mr. Hammond, and he's an odious little chatterbox. And how is dear Lady Mitford? and how did you find the house? and did Captain Bligh make the arrangements as nicely as we thought he would? Come, sit down and tell me all about it."