"But they are not yours, Lady Eustace, unless you will submit that question to an arbitrator."
"I will submit nothing to anybody. You have no right to speak on such a subject till after we are married."
"I must have it settled first, Lady Eustace."
"Then, Lord Fawn, you won't have it settled first. Or rather it is settled already. I shall keep my own necklace, and Mr. Camperdown may do anything he pleases. As for you,—if you ill-treat me, I shall know where to go to." They had now come out from the shrubbery upon the lawn, and there was the carriage at the door, ready to take the elders of the family to church. Of course in such a condition of affairs it would be understood that Lizzie was one of the elders. "I shall not go to church now," she said, as she advanced across the lawn towards the hall door. "You will be pleased, Lord Fawn, to let your mother know that I am detained. I do not suppose that you will dare to tell her why." Then she sailed round at the back of the carriage and entered the hall, in which several of the girls were standing. Among them was Augusta, waiting to take her seat among the elders;—but Lizzie passed on through them all, without a word, and marched up to her bed-room.
"Oh, Frederic, what is the matter?" asked Augusta, as soon as her brother entered the house.
"Never mind. Nothing is the matter. You had better go to church. Where is my mother?"
At this moment Lady Fawn appeared at the bottom of the stairs, having passed Lizzie as she was coming down. Not a syllable had then been spoken, but Lady Fawn at once knew that much was wrong. Her son went up to her and whispered a word in her ear. "Oh, certainly," she said, desisting from the operation of pulling on her gloves. "Augusta, neither your brother nor I will go to church."
"Nor—Lady Eustace?"
"It seems not," said Lady Fawn.
"Lady Eustace will not go to church," said Lord Fawn.