Major Urquhart looked bright, but there were times when a nervous flicker of his eyelids and an anxious look in his eyes betrayed a want of ease in his wife's society. She was, as usual, sweetness itself, and expressed herself delighted with her rooms and all the preparations made for their arrival. Only Sidney noticed that a certain sharp inflection of tone had crept into her conversations with her husband. Major Urquhart had never taken the initiative in household matters, and was with the greatest difficulty prevailed upon to do so now. He could not understand his wife's continual hints and suggestions, and would say bluntly: "Well, ask Vernon; he'll see to it, or else Sidney will." The situation was a tense and difficult one to all. One thing Major Urquhart utterly refused to do, and that was to sit at the head of the table. Sidney relinquished her seat at once, and Mrs. Urquhart promptly took it, but the Admiral faced her. Before very long Sidney came to her father: "We cannot continue to live here, dad dear. It will be a ceaseless fret to all of us. I have given over the housekeeping to her, and she is altering all the hours of everything, just for the mere sake of changing our ordinary routine. There is no reason in it. I asked for the pony carriage yesterday, and could not have it. To-day I have asked again, but she has again ordered it for her own use. She is pulling down the outside greenhouse, and a conservatory is going to be built on to the hall. I don't know where the money is coming from. And she has just told me that some friends of hers are coming down for the week-end, and she is afraid she will have to ask me to give up my room and move up to the top floor whilst they are here. I never make a single objection to anything she says, but the more I acquiesce the more she demands. What are we to do?" The Admiral looked at his daughter with troubled eyes. "I am afraid she resents our presence here. Well, little girl, if we have to go, we must. Would You like to come up to town for a month or two before We settle down again?" Sidney's face flushed and sparkled with pleasure. She had never been able to induce her father to stay long in London at any time. She had often longed to see a little more life, and renew her friendship with old school friends and distant relations, but would not leave her father. Such a prospect before her seemed to take all the sting out of her present circumstances. "Why, dad, that will be delightful! Let us go at once! We can say it is for a visit, and it will be better for them to settle down alone together." They planned it all out, and at dinner that evening, after the servants left the room, Mrs. Urquhart again mentioned her coming visitors.