"That's enough!" she retorted. "I leave Blanford this afternoon!"
"I trust you'll not go in anger, Matilda," he said. "I'm sure a change will do you good. Miss Arminster—I mean Mrs. Spotts—suggests a course of mud-baths; and if you'll permit me to assume the expense—"
"Josephus!" she returned shortly, "do not add insult to injury." And she swept from the room.
"I, too," said Professor Tybalt Smith, who had hitherto remained silent—"I, too, must be permitted to excuse myself. It may be that I can comfort that injured lady in her exile." And he followed her out.
"Oh, I'm delighted!" cried Violet, seizing Mrs. Mackintosh's hand.
"And I, too," said Cecil.
"Thank you," replied his stepmother-to-be. "That pleases me more than anything else. I hope you'll really make Blanford your home."
"I shall indeed," he returned, "since no one will have me as a husband."
"You've the great success of your book to comfort you," suggested Violet. "What more can you ask?"
"Well, as it seems a day of explanations," he said, "I should really like to know why you're called 'the Leopard'?"