The Bishop's Secret by Fergus Hume

'My dear Daisy, I am sorry you are going away, as it has been a great pleasure for me to have you in my house. I hope you will visit me again next year, and then you may be more fortunate.'

Mrs Pansey made this amiable little speech -- which nevertheless, like a scorpion, had a sting in its tail -- to Miss Norsham on the platform of the Beorminster railway station. After a stay of two months, the town mouse was departing as she had come -- a single young woman; and Mrs Pansey's last word was meant to remind her of failure. Daisy was quick enough to guess this, but, displeased at the taunt, chose to understand it in another and more gracious sense, so as to disconcert her spiteful friend.