'But is it necessary to call to-day?'

'I should suppose not;' and there he was, shut up in his den.
Albinia went back, between laughing and vexation, and Lucy looked up
from her exercise to say, 'Does papa say you must call on the
Osborns?'

It was undignified! She bit her lip, and felt her false position, as
with a quiver of the voice she replied, 'We shall make nothing but
mischief if we talk now. Go on with your business.'

The sharp, curious eyes did not take themselves off her face. She
leant over Sophy, who was copying a house, told her the lines were
slanting, took the pencil from her hand, and tried to correct them,
but found herself making them over-black, and shaky. She had not
seen such a line since the days of her childhood's ill-temper. She
walked to the fireplace and said, 'I am going to call on Mrs. Osborn
to-day. Not that your father desires it, but because I have been
indulging in a wrong feeling.'

'I'm sure you needn't,' cried Gilbert. 'It is very impertinent of
Mrs. Osborn. Why, if he is an admiral, she was the daughter of an
old lieutenant of the Marines, and you are General Sir Maurice
Ferrars' first cousin.'

'Hush, hush, Gilbert!' said Albinia, blushing and distressed. 'Mrs.
Osborn's standing in the place entitles her to all attention. I was
thinking of nothing of the kind. It was because I gave way to a
wrong feeling that I mean to go this afternoon.'