Ah, yes! I have done my humble best to comfort poor Kathleen and to give her _some_ idea how to bring up her girls if she does not want to see them going the same way as their unhappy father. One is not thanked for that sort of thing; Spenworth, who blusters but can never look me in the eyes, pretends that he has refused to have me inside Cheniston since I publicly rebuked him, though he well knows that I will not enter the house while the present licence prevails. But one would have thought that even he would have had serious moments, would have felt that his soul might be required of him at any hour... A sense of gratitude, if not verbal thanks, was what I expected... Hoped for, rather than expected... You are quite right. And I have tried to keep the peace on the other side, at Brackenbury. There, I am thankful to say, there is the appearance of harmony; but, goodness me, there is an _appearance_ of harmony when you see pigs eating amicably out of the same trough... No, I ought not to have said that! And I would not say it to any one else; but, when I remember the _distinction_ of the Hall in the old, spacious days... My poor sister-in-law Ruth--well, she knew no better; and Brackenbury, instead of absorbing her, has allowed her to absorb him. They seem to have _no_ sense of their position; and in the upbringing of their children they either don't _know_ or they don't _care_. When this war broke out, Culroyd ran away from Eton and _enlisted_. He is in the Coldstream now, and I expect the whole thing is forgotten, but Brackenbury had the utmost difficulty in getting him out. And my niece Phyllida instantly set herself to learn nursing--which, of course, in itself is altogether praiseworthy--, but she makes it an excuse for now living entirely unchecked and uncontrolled in London--the "bachelor-girl," I believe, is the phrase. I did indeed force my brother to make her come to Mount Street; but, if that preserves the _convenances_, it is the utmost that I have achieved. When the trouble breaks out, when we find her _liée_ with some hopelessly unsuitable "temporary gentleman" ... I? In a rash moment I allowed Brackenbury to make some trifling contribution to the cost of the girl's bed and board: the result is that she treats me as a lodging-house-keeper...