"Come," went on the injured lady presently, addressing Helen. "I am sorry that I ever allowed you to come here. I knew that you would disgrace me. Say good-bye to my sister." "Good-bye!" said Helen, giving her hand awkwardly to Mrs. Bayden. "Oh! you must let her come again," observed good-natured Mr. Bayden. "She didn't mean to do anything wrong, I'm sure. And I daresay it was quite as much Harold's fault as hers. Pray, don't be angry with the poor child." Ejaculating a few conciliatory remarks of this kind, Mr. Bayden accompanied his sister-in-law to her carriage, standing bareheaded in the porch until she passed out of sight. "Really," he observed fretfully as he re-entered the drawing-room and threw himself into an armchair, "really, my dear, you must shield me from your sister as much as possible. I shrink from no sacrifice for my dear children's sake, as you know; but pray don't let her attack me again. It was most unfeeling of her to speak as she did about the parish. Indeed, it was worse than unfeeling, it was positively disrespectful to speak in that way to a clergyman. I, too, who toil in my parish from one year's end to another! She positively spoke as if I didn't do my duty." "Do you think, Richard, that it is pleasant for me to hear our children slightingly spoken of?" returned Mrs. Bayden. "But I bear it, and so must you. As for parish matters, Margaret knows no more about the management of a parish than she does about children. It won't do to quarrel with her, though." "Well, spare me, spare me, that is all I ask," said Mr. Bayden. "Really I feel half sorry for that poor child Helen." "I expect that she is quite able to take care of herself," answered the wife. "You mustn't forget that she nearly killed her father by her behaviour in London." "That was very shocking, certainly," murmured Mr. Bayden. "Give me another cup of tea, my dear. By the way, Betty Smith has been attacking me again about her daughter. These people are never satisfied. They are a most ungrateful set. And Joseph Hall spoke to me about my new stole. Did you ever hear such impertinence? Just as if I were accountable to my people for anything I choose to do."