that the bay window looked directly on to the village street.

"And please, miss," said Poppy, as she was preparing to return home,
"Miss Martineau says she'll look in this evening, and that she was
glad when she saw you out last night, young ladies, and acting
sensible again."

Primrose had always a very faint color; at Poppy's words it deepened
slightly.

"We've tried to act in a sensible way all through," she said, with
gentle dignity. "Perhaps Miss Martineau does not quite understand. We
love one another very much; we are not going to be foolish, but we
cannot help grieving for our mother."

At these words Jasmine rushed out of the room and Poppy's round eyes
filled with tears.

"Oh, Miss Primrose--," she began.

"Never mind, Poppy," said Primrose; "we'll see Miss Martineau
to-night. I am glad you told us she was coming."

The neighbors at Rosebury were all of the most sociable type; the
Mainwaring girls knew every soul in the place, and when their mother
died there was quite a rush of sympathy for them, and the little
cottage might have been full from morning till night. Primrose,
however, would not have it; even Miss Martineau, who was their
teacher, and perhaps their warmest friend, was refused admittance. The
neighbors wondered, and thought the girls very extraordinary and a