'It has occurred to me,' said Mr. Holwood, 'that my daughter, coming from the country, might like to walk and look at the shops――and possibly――some trifle in the windows――and so far as my limited means reach――ahem! So I came, with all due deference, to ask if she might be spared from the studies and all that kind of thing to come a light stroll with me.' 'She is entirely at your service,' said the lady. 'I only regret that her new set of gowns and her hats are not come home from mantua-maker and milliner――in which she would be more suitably dressed, and do you more justice.' 'I thank you――she will pass.' 'By the way, sir,' said the widow, 'have you any objection to Winefred attending the next ball at the Assembly?' 'Not in the least――only――but――――' 'There is some difficulty about a chaperon. Since my bereavement I cannot go――by the merest accident I know no one of title at the present moment in Bath who could introduce her. There is Lady Wardroper, but she is in constant attendance on her husband.' 'Wardroper!' said Mr. Holwood. 'Not Sir Barnaby?' 'The same.' 'I have met him at my office.' 'The son is very intimate here. He takes a lively interest in what relates to dress.' 'Sir Barnaby was a bit of a buck.' 'Alas! he is now a cripple from rheumatism.' 'I was unaware that he was here. I will call and see him certainly. I have not been in Bath many days.' 'You are not surely going?' said Mrs. Tomkin-Jones, as her visitor rose. 'Run, Winefred, and get on your things. You desire her to be with you now, I take it.' 'If you please.' When Winefred had left the room, the doctor's widow said:――'You will excuse the liberty I take, but the interest I feel in your engaging daughter, and the responsibility laid upon me, induce me to speak with a plainness from which I should otherwise shrink. I think, Mr. Holwood, that you have made a mistake. Gentlemen, widowers especially, are liable to fall into errors of judgment that produce results that are deplorable. You have――pardon the remark and my freedom in making it――you have committed a serious error in allowing your daughter to grow up under the influence of that woman.' 'That woman!' repeated Mr. Holwood timidly, and not having a latchkey to trifle with, put the brim of his hat to his lips. 'The nurse, I mean, whose name is Mrs. Marley. It must be confessed that she is a vulgar woman.' 'You know her?' His hand shook. He set down his hat and took up his gold-edged glasses.