When the aunts announced their coming, which was invariably at an hour's notice, they always expected to find the whole family, including Colonel Bellairs, waiting indoors to receive them.

This expectation was never realised, but the annoyance that invariably followed had retained through many years the dew of its youth.
"Bessie and Fay are out.

I am expecting them back every moment." "They will probably be later than usual to-day," said Aunt Mary grimly, with the half-conscious intuition of those whom others avoid.

Did she know that with the exception of Sir John, whose vanity had led him to take refuge in a _cul-de-sac_, her fellow creatures rushed out by back doors, threw themselves out of windows, hid behind haystacks, had letters to write, were ordered by their doctors to rest, whenever she appeared?
Did she know?
One thing was certain.

Magdalen was one of the very few persons who had never avoided her, who at times openly sought her society.