On the whole, Emily was not sorry to have an excuse for remaining at home, and so the carriages drove away comfortably filled, and Lady Maria and Miss Fox-Seton watched their departure.
"I have no intention of having my venerable bones rattled over hill and dale the day I give a dinner-party," said her ladyship.

"Please ring the bell, Emily.

I want to make sure of the fish.

Fish is one of the problems of country life.

Fishmongers are demons, and when they live five miles from one they can arouse the most powerful human emotions." Mallowe Court was at a distance from the country town delightful in its effects upon the rusticity of the neighbourhood, but appalling when considered in connection with fish.