Miss Sparling, feeling very unworthy of the careful deference paid to her by Mr. Oriel, said she was ashamed not to have acknowledged his kind message sooner, but the end of term was always a very busy time.
“Some people would have said ‘hectic’,” said Mr. Carton, glaring at an imaginary class of low-vocabularied women undergraduates.
Miss Sparling acknowledged this rather pedagogic tribute with a little smile in his direction and continuing to address Mr. Oriel, said she would talk the matter over with her secretary and Miss Head the literature mistress, and hoped to arrange a day once a week. If Mr. Oriel felt equal to the walk, she added, it would be easier for her to have it at the school, where the big drawing-room, she said, with a deprecating yet grateful smile towards Mrs. Belton
