now � why he would be impossible � simply impossible she repeated with emphasis � i can see exactly what he s like at a glance one of those cold quiet clever men who women and never admire them � i know the kind of horrid university creature a sort of superior touch me not person who can barely a woman s presence in the room and in his heart of hearts the female sex generally to the lowest class of the animal creation i can read it all in his face he s rather good looking � not very � his hair curls quite nicely but it s getting grey and so is his moustache � he must be at least fifty i should think he has a good figure � for a clergyman � and his eyes no i m not sure that i like his eyes � i believe they re i must look at them again before i make up my mind but i know he s just as conceited and disagreeable as most � he probably thinks that he helps to turn this world and the next round on his little finger � and i he tells the p or village folk here that if they don t obey him they ll go to hell and if they do they ll fly straight to heaven and put on golden crowns at once dear me i what a ridiculous state of things fancy the dear old man in the who came to see me last night with a pair of wings and a crown i laughing again she s neck with the reins and started off at an easy swinging gallop turning out of the woods into the carriage drive and never checking her pace till she reached the house all that day she gave marked evidence that her reign as mistress of s had begun in earnest changing her riding dress for a sober little tailor made frock of she flitted busily over the old house of her ancestors visiting it in every part peering into shadowy comers opening antique presses and finding out the secret of sliding in the oak that covered the walls and leaving no room the apartment in which her father s body had lain in its was solemnly unlocked and disclosed to her view under the title of the ghost room � she was sorrowfully indignant � so much so indeed that mrs shivered in her shoes pricked by the sting of a guilty conscience for if the truth be told it was to mrs s own too tongue that this offending name owed its origin quietly entering the peaceful chamber with its harmless and almost holy air of beautiful darkened calm drew up the blinds threw back tho curtains and i god s good man opened the windows wide admitting a flood of and sweet air it must never be called the ghost room again � she said with a gravity which greatly disconcerted and mrs � otherwise it will have an evil reputation which it does not deserve there is nothing ghostly or about it it is a sacred room � sacred to the memory of one of the dearest and best of men i it is wrong to let such a room be considered as haunted � i shall sleep in it myself sometimes � and i shall make it bright and pretty for visitors when they come i would put a little child to sleep in it � for my father was a good man and nothing evil can ever be associated with him death is only dreadful to the ignorant and the wicked mrs wisely held her peace and followed her new mistress to the morning room where she had to undergo what might be called quite a stiff examination regarding au the household and housekeeping matters armed with a fascinating little velvet bound and pencil put down all the names of the different servants both and making a small private mark of her own against those who had served her father in any capacity and those who were just new to the place together with the amount of wages due every month to each � she over all the fine house linen much of which had been purchased for her mother s home coming and had never been used � she examined with all a s admiration the almost old china with which the shelves and were crowded � and finally after luncheon and an hour s deep by herself in the library she wrote out in a round hand certain rules and for the daily routine of her household and handed the document to mrs � much to that dame s and astonishment these are my hours she said � and it will of course be your business to see that the work is done and with proper method there must be no waste or extravagance � and you will bring me all the accounts every week as i won t have bills running up longer than that period i shall leave all the ordering in of provisions to you � if iti ever happens that you send something to table which i don t like i will tell you and the mistake need not occur again now is there anything else � and she paused finger on lip knitting her brows � you see i ve never done god s good man any housekeeping but always had notions as to how i should do it if i ever got the chance to try and i m just beginning i believe in method � and i like everything that has a place to be in in its place and everything tiiat has a time to come up to its time it ever so much worry and trouble now let me think � oh yes i � i there was another matter please let 