you can't bear to speak of him, and perhaps after all quiet is the best
thing. Don't let your mamma think of dressing and coming down, my
dear."

There was a little combat on this point, but it ended in Mrs. Frederick
Langford yielding, and agreeing to remain upstairs. Grandmamma would
have waited to propose to her each of the dishes that were to appear at
table, and hear which she thought would suit her taste; but very
fortunately, as Henrietta thought, a bell rang at that moment, which
she pronounced to be "the half-hour bell," and she hastened away,
telling her granddaughter that dinner would be ready at half-past five,
and calling the maid outside the door to giver her full directions
where to procure anything that her mistress might want.

"Dear grandmamma! just like herself!" said Mrs. Frederick Langford.
"But Henrietta, my dear," she added with some alarm, "make haste and
dress: you must never be too late in this house!"

Henrietta was not much accustomed to dress to a moment, and she was too
anxious about her mamma to make speed with her whole will, and her hair
was in no state of forwardness when the dinner-bell rang, causing her
mamma to start and hasten her with an eager, almost alarmed manner.
"You don't know how your grandmamma dislikes being kept waiting," said
she.

At last she was ready, and running down, found all the rest assembled,
evidently waiting for her. Frederick, looking anxious, met her at the
door to receive her assurances that their mother was better; the rest
inquired, and her apologies were cut short by grandmamma calling them
to eat her turkey before it grew cold. The spirits of all the party