"Nothing has happened," said Lady Fox-Wilton hastily. "And I wish you wouldn't romp with the puppy in that way, Hester. He's always doing some damage to the flowers. I'm going out, and I wished to give you a message from the Rector." "Is that from Uncle Richard?" said Hester, glancing carelessly at the letter. Lady Fox-Wilton crushed it in her hand. "I told you it was. Why do you ask unnecessary questions? The Rector has heard from the lady in Paris and he wants you to go as soon as possible. Either he or Aunt Alice will take you over. We have had the best possible recommendations. You will enjoy it very much. They can get you the best lessons in Paris, they say. They know everybody." "H'm--" said Hester, reflectively. Then she looked at the speaker. "Do you know, mamma, that I happen to be eighteen this week?" "Don't be silly, Hester! Of course I know!" "Well, you see, it's rather important. Am I or am I not obliged to do what you and Mr. Meynell want me to do? I believe I'm not obliged. Anyway, I don't quite see how you're going to make me do it, if I don't want to." "You can behave like a naughty, troublesome girl, without any proper feeling, of course!--if you choose," said Lady Fox-Wilton warmly. "But I trust you will do nothing of the kind. We are your guardians till you are twenty-one; and you ought to be guided by us." "Well, of course I can't be engaged to Stephen, if you say I mayn't--because there's Stephen to back you up. But if Queen Victoria could be a queen at eighteen, I don't see why _I_ shouldn't be fit at eighteen to manage my own wretched affairs! Anyway--I--am--not--going to Paris--unless I want to go. So I don't advise you to promise that lady just yet. If she keeps her room empty, you might have to pay for it!" "Hester, you are really the plague of my life!" cried Lady Fox-Wilton helplessly. "I try to keep you--the Rector tries to keep you--out of mischief that any girl ought to be ashamed--of--and--" "What mischief?" demanded Hester peremptorily. "Don't run into generalities, mamma." "You know very well what mischief I mean!" "I know that you think I shall be running away some day with Sir Philip Meryon!" said the girl, laughing, but with a fierce gleam in her eyes. "I have no intention at present of doing anything of the kind. But if anything could make me do it, it would be the foolish way in which you and the others behave. I don't believe the Rector ever told you to set Sarah and Lulu on to dog me wherever I go!" "He told me you were not to be allowed to meet that man. You won't promise me not to meet him--and what can we do? You know what the Rector feels. You know that he spent an hour yesterday arguing and pleading with you, when he had been up most of the night preparing papers for this commission. What's the matter with you, Hester? Are you quite in your right senses?"