"I believe Mr Goodwin is quite satisfied," answered Delia. "Oh, I daresay," said Mrs Winn. "We all know he's a dear, meek, old man, who could never say boo to a goose. But that doesn't make it right. Now, I know for a fact that he expected Anna Forrest to tea with him one evening, and she never came. I know all about it, because I happened to send him some trout that morning, and Mrs Cooper went in to cook them. Mrs Cooper chars for me, you know. `I was quite sorry, ma'am,' she said, when she came the next day, `to see the poor, old gentleman standing at the window with his watch in his hand, and the trout done to a turn, and his flowers and all. It's hard on the old to be disappointed.'" Mrs Winn rolled out these sentences steadily, keeping her eyes firmly fixed on Delia all the while. Now she waited for a reply. "I heard about it," she said. "Anna was not able to go." "Then she should have sent word sooner, or her aunt should have done so. It was a great want of respect. I'm surprised, Delia, you should take it so coolly, when you think so much of Mr Goodwin. Now, if _I_ should see Anna Forrest, I shall make a point of putting her conduct in a right light to her. I daresay no one has done so yet--and she is but a child." Delia shivered inwardly. She knew that Mrs Winn was quite capable of doing as she said. How the Professor would shrink from such interference! Yet she did not feel equal to saying much against it, for Mrs Winn had always kept her and every one else in Dornton in order. Her right to rebuke and admonish was taken as a matter of course. "You don't know, you see," she began, "how it was that Anna was prevented. Perhaps--" Mrs Winn had now risen, and stood ready to depart, with her umbrella planted firmly on the ground. "My dear," she interrupted, raising one hand, "I know _this_. Wrong is wrong, and right is right. That's enough for me, and always has been. Now, I won't disturb your dear mother to say good-bye, for I think she's just dropped off. I'll go softly out." She moved with ponderous care out of the room, followed by Delia, but came to a stand again in the hall. "You heard about this picnic of the Palmers?" she said, inquiringly. "You're going, of course. It seems to be a large affair." "I'm not quite sure," said Delia. "Julia Gibbins came in this morning," continued Mrs Winn, "quite excited about her invitation. She wanted to know what I meant to wear. Julia's so absurdly frivolous, she thinks as much of her dress as a girl of sixteen. `At our age, my dear Julia,' I said to her, `we need not trouble ourselves about that. You may depend on it, no one will notice what we have on. For myself, I shall put on my Paisley shawl and my thickest boots. Picnics are always draughty and damp.' I don't think she quite liked it. Now, do you suppose the Palmers have asked Mr Goodwin? Anna Forrest's so much there, that I should _almost_ think they would."