"P'r'aps it's as well that I didn't set about him, after all," said his
father. "If I had done what I should like to do, his own mother wouldn't
have known him."

Mr. Carter sniffed defiantly and, with a bored air, resumed his seat.
Ten minutes passed--fifteen; at the end of half an hour the elder man's
impatience found vent in a tirade against the entire sex.

"She's dressing up; that's what it is," explained Jim. "For him!"

A door opened above and a step sounded on the stairs. Mr. Carter looked
up uneasily, and, after the first sensation of astonishment had passed,
wondered vaguely what his double had run away for. The girl, her lips
parted and her eyes bright, came swiftly down into the room.

"Where is he?" she said, quickly.

"Eh?" said her father, in surprise. "Why, there! Can't you see?"

The light died out of the girl's face and she looked round in dismay.
The watchful Mr. Carter thought that he also detected in her glance a
spice of that temper which had made her relatives so objectionable.

"That!" she said, loudly. "That! That's not my Bert!"

"That's what I told 'em," said Mr. Carter, deferentially, "over and over
again."

"What!" said her father, loudly. "Look again."