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been very different from mine. It seems that pleasure does not agree with you. We must see you don’t have too much of it.”
    â€œNo, yes, Grannie,” said Amy, finding she concurred in this view, and hoping that hospitality came under the same head.

Chapter VI
    â€œWell, here I am at home!” said Hermia. “Not where you thought to see me. Not where I hoped to be. Mater is not in the offing? I can say an open word? I am not a welcome figure any more than I am a willing one.”
    â€œWhy are you at home?” said Madeline, with her eyes and tone grave. “We can hardly be glad of it if you are not.”
    â€œBecause a break was needed. Because it had to come. Because other things had come. Miss Murdoch and I are like flint and steel. We can’t come together without breaking into flame. She holds to her place without the power to fill it. She stands in the way of everything. What I could do is not to be done. What I have done is to be undone. I don’t know what the end will be. I begin to feel there must be an end.”
    â€œIt may be that tact and patience are needed,” said Madeline, as if such qualities could not be depended on.
    â€œI told myself that, as everyone would. And I found they did nothing, as everyone does. And I found the decline will go on, as nothing is done to check it. A deadlock has been reached, and is not resolved. I am here for the break to achieve it. Though where my presence failed, it is unlikely that my absence will succeed.”
    â€œSo you are here again, Hermia,” said Eliza’s voice. “Sooner than I thought to see you. Not that I felt it would be long. So the school is not the whole of your world? This house is still your background, if not your home?”
    â€œIt seems it may be both,” said Hermia, in an eventone. “You sound as if you want me to admit it. Does the admission afford you any pleasure? It affords me none.”
    â€œWhy, what is the matter? What do you mean? I hope there is nothing wrong.”
    â€œI hope so indeed,” said Sir Robert, as he came to greet his daughter. “It is soon for a threat of this kind. I trust it is one that will pass.”
    â€œThe trouble lies deep,” said Hermia. “Madeline knows what it is. She will tell you and save me from doing so, and you from hearing it from me.”
    â€œI know what it is,” said Eliza. “None of us needs to be told. It is what I was afraid of, Hermia. Your temperament has betrayed you. You had great patience here, and it unfitted you for the world outside.”
    â€œThat is not where I am. I am in a narrower world than this, one where the temperament you mention, or what you mean, was the one that might have served. No other would have been of any good. I could only show it and hope it would prevail. But nothing would or could have. I see there was no hope.”
    â€œYou showed your temperament and hoped it would prevail. The epitome of your life. And put into words by yourself. We need not say any more.”
    â€œHow far has the failure gone?” said Sir Robert. “Is it definite and complete?”
    â€œNot either as yet, Father. Or not allowed to be. The threat is not recognised, but it is there. It is best to be open about it. I decided to speak the truth.”
    â€œWell, it can seldom be hidden,” said Eliza. “In this case it could not be. What has happened to the money we gave? It must have been put to some use.”
    â€œMuch of it has gone on Miss Murdoch’s debts. They were more than I knew. And more than she knew or would know. It was made over to her in payment for mypart in the goodwill. I had no control over it. It was not mine.”
    â€œNo, it was never yours. It was your father’s and meant for you all. What a tale for you to tell, and for Angus and Roberta to hear! Are you glad to see them?”
    â€œMore than they can be to see me, the tale being as you tell