Transcribed from the 1900 Macmillan and Co edition by David Priceemail ccx074coventryacukMODERN BROODS or DEVELOPMENTS UNLOOKED FORCHAPTER ITORTOISES AND HARESWhateer is good to wish ask that of HeavenThough it be what thou canst not hope to see HARTLEY COLERIDGEThe scene was a drawingroom with oldfashioned heavy sash windowsopening on a narrow brickwalled towngarden sloping down to a riverand neatly kept  The same might be said of the room where heavyoldfashioned furniture handsome but not new was concealed byvarious flimsy modernisms knicknacks fans brackets chinaphotographs and watercolours a canary singing loud in the window inthe winter sunshineMiss Prescott announced the maid but finding no auditor save thecanary she retreated and Miss Prescott looked round her with a halfsigh of recognition of the surroundings  She was herself a quietlooking gentle lady rather small with a sweet mouth and eyes ofhazel in a rather worn face dressed in a soft woollen and grey furwith headgear to suit and there was an air of glad expectation alittle flush that did not look permanent on her thin cheeksIs it you my dear Miss Prescott was the greeting of the olderhostess as she entered her grey hair rough and uncovered and herdress of wellused black silk her complexion of the red that showswear and care  Then it is true she asked as the kiss and doubleshake of the hand was exchangedMay I ask  Is it true  May I congratulate youOh yes it is true said Miss Prescott breathlessly  I supposethe girls are at the High SchoolYes they will be at home at one  Or shall I send for themNo thank you Mrs Best  I shall like to have a little time withyou first  I can stay till a quarterpast threeThen come and take off your things  I do not know when I have beenso gladDo the girls know asked Miss Prescott following upstairs to acomfortable bedroom evidently serving also the purposes of a privateroom for writing table and account books stood near the fireThey know something Kate Bell heard a report from her cousins andthey have been watching anxiously for news from youI would not write till I knew more  I hope they have not raisedtheir expectations too high for though it is enough to be an immenserelief it is not exactly affluence  I have been with Mr Bell goinginto the matter and seeing the place said Miss Prescott sittingcomfortably down in the armchair Mrs Best placed for her while sheherself sat down in another disposing themselves for a talk over thefireMr Bell reckons it at about 600 pounds a yearAnd an estateA very pretty cottage in a Devonshire valley with the furniture andthree acres of landOh  I believe the girls fancy that it is at least as large as LordColdhurstsYes I was in hopes that they would have heard nothing about itIt came through some of their schoolfellows one cannot help thingsgetting into the airAnd there getting inflated like bubbles said Miss Prescottsmiling  Well their expectations will have a fall poor dearsAnd it does not come from their side of the family said Mrs BestOf course not  And it was wholly unexpected was it notYes I had my name of Magdalen from my great aunt Tremlett but shehad never really forgiven my mothers marriage though she consentedto be my godmother  She offered to adopt me on my mothers deathand once when my father married again and when we lost him shewrote to propose my coming to live with her but there would havebeen no payment and soYes you dear good thing you thought it your duty to go and workfor your poor little stepmother and her childrenWhat else was my education good for which has been a costly thingto poor father  And then the old lady was affronted for good andnever took any more notice of me nor answered my letters  I did noteven know she was dead till I heard from Mr Bell who had learnt itfrom his lawyersIt was quite right of her  Dear Magdalen I am so glad said MrsBest crossing over to kiss her for the first stiffness had wornoff and they were together again as had been the solicitorsdaughter and the chemists daughter who went to the same school tillMagdalen had been sent away to be finished in GermanyDear Sophy I wish you had the good fortune tooOh my galleons are coming when George has prospered a little morein Queensland and comes to fetch me  Sophia and he say they shallfight for me said Mrs Best who had been bravely presiding over ahighschool boardinghouse ever since her husband a railwayengineer had been killed by an accident and left her with twochildren to bring up  Dear children they are very good to meI am sure you have been goodness itself to us said Magdalen intaking the care of these poor little ones when their mother died  Idont know how to be thankful enough to you and for all the blessingswe have had  And that this should have come just now especiallywhen my life with Lady Milsom is coming to an endIndeedYes the little boys are old enough for school and the Colonel isgoing to take a house at Shrewsbury where his mother will live withthem and want me no longerYou have been there seven yearsYes and very happy  When Fanny married Lady Milsom was leftalone and would not part with me and then came the two little boysfrom India so that she had an excuse for retaining me but that isover now or will be in a few weeks time  I had been trying for anengagement and finding that beside your highschool diploma youngladies I am considered quite passeeMy dear  With your art and music and allToo true  And while I was digesting a polite hint that my termswere too high and therewith Agathas earnest appeal to be sent toGirton there comes this inheritance