to remind him that there was but little time for breakfast before the bell began to ring for matins; but she had taken her own breakfast and begun her work before the Captain and Law came downstairs. When she had poured out their tea for them she sat down in the window-seat with her sewing. She did not take any share in their talk, neither did she watch, as she often did, the stir of morning life in the Dean’s Walk--the tradesmen’s carts going about, the perambulators from the town pushing upward, with fresh nursemaids behind, to the shady walk on the Slopes; now and then a tall red soldier showing against the grey wall of the Abbey opposite; the old Chevaliers beginning to turn out, taking their little morning promenade before the bells began. The stir was usually pleasant to Lottie, but she took no notice of it to-day. She was going to matins herself this morning--not perhaps altogether for devotion, but with the idea, after the service, of lying in wait at the north gate for the exit of the Signor. How it was that the subject came under discussion Lottie did not know. She woke to it only when it came across herself and touched upon her own thoughts. It was Law who was saying something (it was fit for him to say so!), grumbling about the inequality of education, and that girls had just as good a right to work as boys. “I should like to know,” he said, “why I should have to get hold of a lot of books, and trot over to old Ashford, and work like a slave till one o’clock, while she sits as cool and as fresh as can be, and never stirs?” He was not addressing anybody in particular, but grumbling to the whole world at large, which was Law’s way. Generally his father took no notice of him, but some prick of sensation in the air no doubt moved him to-day. “Speak of things you know something about,” said the Captain; “that’s the best advice I can give you, Law. And let Lottie alone. Who wants her to work? The fresher she looks and the better she looks, the more likely she is to get a husband; and that’s a girl’s first duty. Is that the bell?” said Captain Despard, rising, drawing himself up, and pulling his collar and wristbands into due display. “Let me hear nothing about work. No daughter of mine shall ever disgrace herself and me in that way. Get yourself a husband, my child; that’s the only work I’ll ever permit--that’s all a lady can do. A good husband, Lottie. If I heard of some one coming forward I’d be happier, I don’t deny. Bring him to the scratch, my dear; or if you’re in difficulty refer him to me.” He was gone before Lottie could utter a word of the many that rushed to her lips. She turned upon Law instead, who sat and chuckled behind his roll. “If it had not been for you he would not have insulted me so!” she cried.