Meanwhile, Honor herself, as we have just hinted, was by no means fretting after a return to the Paddocks. She had been made a great deal of during her absence; and Honor was a young lady to whom the process of being made much of was especially agreeable. Perhaps the one of her new connections by whom she had been the most petted was (and the circumstance is very characteristic of the woman’s character) Colonel Norcott’s colonial wife. It was through Mrs. Baker’s advice that the person who was, next to herself, the most deeply interested in the Colonel’s recovery, was, without loss of time, telegraphed to of his danger. Honor, who, as the reader may already have perceived, was not remarkable for moral courage, betrayed some faint symptoms of alarm at the measure. Her grandmother, however (Mrs. Baker always insisted upon her rights of relationship, and _would_ be called grandmamma, however much shy Honor endeavoured to escape the duty), her grandmother strove as best she might to steady Mrs. John’s nerves on the occasion. “You will find my son’s wife one of the best and unpretending of women; but that, my dear, has nothing to do with the question. If she were the least good-natured and the worst of human beings, our duty would remain the same, and that duty would be to have no secrets from Mrs. Norcott. Even if Fred were certain to recover, I should still repeat the same. Let everything be above-board and open. I don’t know whether you understand French. You do? So much the better, for there is a motto in that language which, to my thinking, should be written in letters of gold on ivory: _Fais ce que dois, avenne que pourra_. And now, my dear, be so good as to ring the bell, and we will despatch the message without loss of time to Mrs. Fred, who is staying with some friends at Ryde. On all accounts, it will be better for her to be here, for Mr. Baker is very uncomfortable at the cottage without me; and you, too, should your father give signs of amendment, which, please God, may be the case, will not be sorry, I am sure, to return to your husband and your home.”