"Who—Mr. Bellew? Oh yes!"

"He went—very early!"

"Yes."

"And—without any breakfast!"

"That was—his own fault!" said Anthea.

"And without even—saying 'Good-bye'!"

"Perhaps he was in a hurry," Anthea suggested.

"Oh dear me, no my dear! I don't believe Mr. Bellew was ever in a hurry in all his life."

"No," said Anthea, giving her pen a vicious bite, "I don't believe he ever was; he is always so—hatefully placid, and deliberate!" and here, she bit her pen again.

"Eh, my dear?" exclaimed Miss Priscilla, pausing with her needle in mid-air, "did you say—hatefully?"