"You were what? Are you really serious, Miss Arminster?" "Perfectly," she answered, giving him a bewitching little smile as she tripped out of the garden.[Pg 149][Pg 148] [Pg 149] [Pg 148] PART II. ENGLAND. [Pg 151][Pg 150] [Pg 151] [Pg 150] CHAPTER I. IN WHICH MRS. MACKINTOSH ADMIRES JONAH. "I think, Matilda, that you must have neglected to put any sugar in my tea," said the Bishop of Blanford, pushing his cup towards his sister, after tasting the first mouthful. "You're quite right, Josephus, I did," she replied. "And," continued his Lordship, who, being near-sighted, was poking about, after the manner of a mole, in the three-storied brass bird-cage which held the more substantial portion of the repast, "there doesn't seem to be any cake." "You forget," said Miss Matilda sternly, "that it's an ember-day." Her brother said nothing, and took a[Pg 152] mouthful of the tea, which, like the morality of the palace, was strong and bitter. But his ample chest expanded with just the slightest sigh of regret, causing the massive episcopal cross of gold filigree, set with a single sapphire, which rested thereon, to rise and fall gently. Miss Matilda's hawklike eye saw and noted this as the first slight sign of rebellion, and she hastened to mete out justice swift and stern, saying: [Pg 152] "You
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