"Have you finished your essay, Aldyth?" Hilda asked.
"No," replied Aldyth.
"No? You are behindhand. I have written eighteen sheets. What length do you think yours will be?"
"I do not know," said Aldyth, quickly; "I shall finish it for my own satisfaction, but I shall not send it to Mr. Glynne. I am not going to any more of the lectures."
"Aldyth! What do you mean?" exclaimed the sisters together. Their astonishment could not have been greater.
"It is uncle's doing," said Aldyth, speaking with an effort. "He does not approve of the lectures; he has desired me to give them up."
"I am sure I would not give up the lectures if I cared for them as you do, Aldyth, for any cross-grained old uncle in the world," said Kitty, warmly. "I call Mr. Lorraine a thorough tyrant."
"It is not for his sake so much as for my mother's," said Aldyth. "She would not like me to vex uncle."
"I am afraid I should not respect my mother's wishes if she were all those miles away," remarked Hilda. "You might write and ask her about it, and by the time you got her reply, the lectures would be over."
Aldyth smiled. "Nonsense, Hilda," she said; "you would not do so if you were in my place."