"Oh yes. She loves to rule, but then she has the talent," pleaded
Bessie.

"No, my dear, there you are mistaken. She is too fussy; she irritates
people. But for the old admiral she would often get into difficulties.
Beechhurst has taken to ladies' meetings and committees, and all sorts
of fudge that she is the moving spirit of. I often wish we were back in
the quiet, times when dear old Hutton was rector, and would not let her
be always interfering. I suppose it comes of this new doctrine of the
equality of the sexes; but I say they never will be equal till women
consent to be frights. It gives a man an immense pull over us to clap on
his hat without mounting up stairs to the looking-glass: while we are
getting ready to go and do a thing, he has gone and done it. You hear
Lady Latimer's name at every turn, but the old admiral is the backbone
of Beechhurst, as he always was, and old Phipps is his right hand."

"And Mr. Musgrave and my father?" queried Bessie.

"They do their part, but it is so unobtrusively that one forgets them;
but they would be missed if they were not there. Mr. Musgrave has a
great deal of influence amongst his own class--the farmers and those
people. Of course, you have heard how wonderfully his son is getting on
at college? Oh, my dear, what a stir there was about his running over to
Normandy after you!"

"Dear Harry! I saw him again quite lately. He came to see me at Bayeux,"
said Bessie with a happy sigh.

"Did he? we never heard of that. He is at home now: perhaps he will come
over with them to-morrow, eh?"