This was all the greater reason for going on. "I mean instead of
Burfield's."

Our young friend fairly pitied her; she had made her in an instant so
helpless, and yet not a bit haughty nor outraged. She was only mystified
and scared. "Oh, you know--?"

"Yes, I know!" Our young friend smiled, meeting the other's eyes, and,
having made Juno blush, proceeded to patronise her. "_I'll_ do it"--she
put out a competent hand. Her ladyship only submitted, confused and
bewildered, all presence of mind quite gone; and the next moment the
telegram was in the cage again and its author out of the shop. Then
quickly, boldly, under all the eyes that might have witnessed her
tampering, the extraordinary little person at Cocker's made the proper
change. People were really too giddy, and if they _were_, in a certain
case, to be caught, it shouldn't be the fault of her own grand memory.
Hadn't it been settled weeks before?--for Miss Dolman it was always to be
"Cooper's."




CHAPTER XIV


But the summer "holidays" brought a marked difference; they were holidays
for almost every one but the animals in the cage. The August days were
flat and dry, and, with so little to feed it, she was conscious of the
ebb of her interest in the secrets of the refined. She was in a position