And she began actively to demonstrate the convenient slope, and the
beautiful flower-bed that might be made in its place. Mr. Kendal
answered with a few assenting sounds and complacent looks, and
Albinia, accustomed to a brother with whom to assent was to act,
believed the matter was in train, and that pond and fever would be
annihilated.

The garden opened into a meadow with a causeway leading to a canal
bank, where there was a promising country walk, but the cruel
visitors had left no time for exploring, and Albinia had to return
home and hurry up her arrangements before there was space to turn
round in her room--even then it was not what Winifred could have seen
without making a face.

Mr. Kendal had read aloud to his wife in the evening during the stay
at the sea-side, and she was anxious not to let the habit drop. He
liked it, and read beautifully, and she thought it good for the
children. She therefore begged him to read, catching him on the way
to his study, and coaxing him to stay no longer than to find a book.
He brought Schlegel's Philosophy of History. She feared that it was
above the young ones, but it was delightful to herself, and the
custom had better be established before it was perilled by attempts
to adapt it to the children. Lucy and Sophy seemed astonished and
displeased, and their whispers had to be silenced, Gilbert learnt his
lessons apart. Albinia rallied her spirits, and insisted to herself
that she did not feel discouraged.

Monday had gone, or rather Albinia had been robbed of it by
visitors--now for a vigorous Tuesday. Her unpacking and her setting
to rights were not half over, but as the surface was habitable, she