Still no signs of the Rev. Guy Cattacomb. The morning following the night told of in the last chapter rose bright and sunny. Miss Blake rose with it, her energetic mind full of thought. "I wonder how I am to begin to keep house?" said Lucy with a laugh, when she got up from the breakfast table, her cheeks as bright as the pink summer muslin she wore. "Do I go into the kitchen, Theresa?" "You go with the cook to the larder," replied Theresa, gravely. "See what provisions remain in it from yesterday, and give your orders accordingly. Shall I go with you this morning, Lady Andinnian?" "I wish you would! I wish you'd put me in the way of it. In Paris, when I was going to be married, mamma regretted she had not shown me more of housekeeping at home." "You have, I believe, a careful and honest cook: and that is a great thing for an inexperienced mistress," said Miss Blake. "As if cooks were ever dishonest in the country!" cried Sir Karl, laughing--and it was the first laugh Miss Blake had heard from his lips. "You must go to your grand London servants for that--making their perquisites out of everything, and feeding their friends and the policeman!" "And then, Karl, when I come back, you will take me about everywhere, won't you?" whispered Lucy, leaning fondly over his shoulder as Miss Blake went on. "I want to see all about the grounds." He nodded and let his cheek rest for a moment against hers. "Go and order your roast beef. And--Lucy!" His manner had changed to seriousness. He turned in his chair to face her, his brow flushing as he took her hands. "You will not be extravagant, Lucy--" his voice sinking to a whisper lower than hers. "When I told you of that--that trouble, which had fallen upon me and might fall deeper, I said that it would cost me a large portion of my income. You remember?" "Oh Karl! do you think I could forget? We will live as quietly and simply as you please. It is all the same to me." "Thank you, my dear wife." Theresa stood at the open hall door, looking from it while she waited. "I was thinking," she said, when Lady Andinnian's step was heard, "that it really might be cheaper in the end if you took a regular housekeeper, Lucy, as you are so inexperienced. It would save you a great deal of trouble." "The trouble's nothing, Theresa; and I should like to learn. I would not think of a housekeeper. I should be afraid of her." "Oh, very well. As you please, of course. But when you get your whole staff of servants, the house full of them, the controlling of the supplies for so many will very much embarrass you." "But we don't mean to have our house full of servants, Theresa. We do not care to set up on a grand scale, either of us. Just about as papa and mamma live, will be enough for us indoors." "Nonsense," said Miss Blake.