Miss Quillet Author:Sabine Baring-Gould Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: fire, and comported herself in such a manner as to irritate nerves that were rendered peculiarly sensitive through pain. Moreover, her manner towards the servant... more »s was such as to rouse their opposition. They had, doubtless, been treated over indulgently by a master who did not exact much, and they felt keenly the descent among them of a woman who was peculiarly exacting, and supercilious in demeanour towards them. Mr. Tolcher returned after an absence of three hours. ' Well ? ' asked Mrs. Basileg. ' It is Hobson's choice,' he replied. ' We must accept the probationer or have none at all. Both the institutions with which I have communicated have proved unable to send a nurse. One answers, " None available," and the other, " Impossible." ' ' Really,' said Mrs. Basileg, ' I do wish that Richard had taken up with some other pursuit than chemistry, which always blows people up sooner or later.' ' Madam, it is in vain to wish—we must act.' ' It is all nonsense,' exclaimed the angry lady. ' You can't go in a 'bus, or on the Metropolitan Railway, but you encounter nurses or art students; they swarm thick asmidges in autumn. Where are they all now ? I mean the nurses, not the art students.' ' They are not at the hospitals and institutions to which I have applied/ said Mr. Tolcher. ' No, they are everywhere but where wanted, rushing about with their veils flying behind them, like mosquitoes.' ' Perhaps, madam, you might go to Portland Road station, and catch one of these vagrants, and bring her here. Come, what is to be done ? ' ' I would gladly offer to nurse Richard myself,' pursued Mrs. Basileg; 'but that I am a bundle of nerves, and am liable to headaches. Besides, there is that dominating question of a cook, that must be solved—it fills my horizon!' ' Do yo...« less