"
"You may be very clever and modern, Miss Hope," said Mrs. Quabarl firmly,
"but I should like you to leave here by the next train. Your luggage
will be sent after you as soon as it arrives."
"I'm not certain exactly where I shall be for the next few days," said
the dismissed instructress of youth; "you might keep my luggage till I
wire my address. There are only a couple of trunks and some golf-clubs
and a leopard cub."
"A leopard cub!" gasped Mrs. Quabarl. Even in her departure this
extraordinary person seemed destined to leave a trail of embarrassment
behind her.
"Well, it's rather left off being a cub; it's more than half-grown, you
know. A fowl every day and a rabbit on Sundays is what it usually gets.
Raw beef makes it too excitable. Don't trouble about getting the car for
me, I'm rather inclined for a walk."
And Lady Carlotta strode out of the Quabarl horizon.
The advent of the genuine Miss Hope, who had made a mistake as to the day
on which she was due to arrive, caused a turmoil which that good lady was
quite unused to inspiring. Obviously the Quabarl family had been
woefully befooled, but a certain amount of relief came with the
knowledge.
"How tiresome for you, dear Carlotta," said her hostess, when the overdue
guest ultimately arrived; "how very tiresome losing your train and having
to stop overnight in a strange place."
"Oh dear, no," said Lady Carlotta; "not at all tiresome--for me."
THE SEVENTH PULLET
"It's not the daily grind that I complain of," said Blenkinthrope
resentfully; "it's the dull grey sameness of my life outside of office
hours.
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