Hey, Mrs. George Schofield, I wonder what you will say
to it all ? I should like to see your face when you come
to hear of these doings. Lord ! she will think I have
gone mad. I shall have some one to pit against her and
her George, and all the rest of 'em, now. If Colonel
Lavenham's nieces can't hold their own with Daisy



THE MISCHIEF OP MONICA. 37

Schofield, give me leave never to have another opinion
on the subject, that's all."

It is now time that the Mrs. George Schofield, once
before alluded to in these pages, should be presented in
due form and at due length to our readers. Mrs. Scho-
field — she always made a point of being Mrs. Schofield,
cousin Joseph being unmarried, as she would explain —
Mrs. Schofield then, was by no means a bad sort of
woman. Her husband had loved her, her children did
love her, her household respected her, her parish bene-
fited by her, and no one could say a syllable against
her. But one stubborn fact stood out in bold relief on
the other side — it was indisputable that everybody, from
the highest to the lowest, from the oldest to the young-
est, had a trick of getting out of Mrs.Schofield's way.
