It will cause the greatest inconvenience and disappointment; but for that I cannot hold myself responsible, though it will be most painful and embarrassing to me after the kind appreciation I have received.

Still I must withdraw it"-- "Withdraw what offer ?" "Why the offer I was explaining to you just now, when you ordered the maids out of the room.

You really cannot deny that you heard what I said, Damaris, because you mentioned the carriage horses yourself." Theresa sipped some water.

She was recovering if not her temper, yet her grasp on the main issue.

She wanted, so desperately, to achieve her purpose and, incidentally, to continue to play, both for her own benefit and that of the parish, her self-elected role of Lady Bountiful, of "official representative of The Hard"-- as Dr.Horniblow by a quite innocent if ill-timed flourish of speech had unfortunately put it.
"The conveyances in the village are insufficient to take the whole party to the station," she continued.