"What has all this to say to what we are discussing?" cried he, angrily.
"Just everything," replied I; "but as you cannot make the application, you must excuse me if I decline the task also."
"And so you mean to be a baroness?" said he, rudely.
I courtesied profoundly to him, and he flung out of the room with a bang that nearly brought the door down. In a moment after, mamma was in my arms, overcome with tenderness and emotion.
"I have carried the day, my dearest child," said she. "We are to accept the invitation, at all events, and we set out to-morrow."
I have no time for more, Kitty, for all our preparations for departure have yet to be made. What fate awaits me I know not, nor can I even fancy what may be the future of your ever attached and devoted friend,
Mary Anne Dodd.