“Far from it.  I am only doing the obvious.  I care much for the girl.  But Mary Dinnett, despite the need to be sanguine and expeditious, permits herself an amount of obstinate melancholy which is most ill-judged and quite unjustified by the situation.  Nothing will satisfy her.  She scorns hope.  She declines to take a cheerful view.  She even confesses to a premonition they are not going to be married after all.  She says that her grandmother had second sight and believes that the doubtful gift has been handed down to her.”

“This is very bad for Sabina.”

“Of course it is.  I impress that upon her mother.  The girl has been through a great deal.  She is highly strung at all times, and these affairs have wrought havoc with her intelligence for the moment.  Her one thought and feverish longing is to be married, and her mother’s fatuous prophecies that she never will be are causing serious nervous trouble to Sabina.  I feel sure of it.  They may even be doing permanent harm.”

“You should suppress Mary.”

“I endeavour to do so.  I put much serving upon her; but her frame of mind is such that her energy is equal to anything.  You had better see her and caution her.  From another woman, words of wisdom would carry more weight than mine.  As to Sabina, I have warned her against her mother—­a strong thing to do, but I felt it to be my duty.”

They saw Mary Dinnett then, and Miss Ironsyde quickly realised that there were subtle tribulations and shades of doubt in the mother’s mind beyond Mr. Churchouse’s power to appreciate.  Indeed, Mrs. Dinnett, encouraged so to do by the sympathetic presence of Jenny Ironsyde, strove to give reasons for her continued gloom.

“You must be more hopeful and put a brighter face on it, Mary, if only for the sake of the young people,” declared the visitor.  “You’re not approaching the marriage from the right point of view.  We must forget the past and keep our minds on the future and proceed with this affair just as though it were an ordinary marriage without any disquieting features.  We have to remember that they love each other and really are well suited.  The future is chequered by certain differences between my nephews, which have not yet been smoothed out; but I am sure that they will be; and meantime you need feel no fear of any inconvenience for Sabina.  I am responsible.”

“I know all that,” said Mrs. Dinnett, “and your name is in my prayers when I rise up and when I go to bed.  But while there’s a lot other people can do for ’em, there’s also a deal they can only do for themselves; and, in my opinion, they are not doing it.  It’s no good us playacting and forgetting the past and pretending everything is just as it should be, if they won’t.”

“But they have.”

“Sabina has.  I doubt if he has.  I don’t know how you find him, but when I see him he’s not in a nice temper and not taking the situation in the spirit of a happy bridegroom—­very far from it.  And my second-sight, which I get from my grandmother, points to one thing:  that there won’t be no wedding.”