Grey colored, and replied;

"No, I did not, for mother wished to punish me for fighting Neil, and
so when a Mrs. Smithers asked us to spend a week with the McPhersons at
her home in Middlesex, I was left behind in London with some friends,
but I had great fun. I went to the Tower, and the circus, and the Abbey,
and the museum, and everywhere, though I was sorry not to see Bessie,
who with her father and mother, was also at Captain Smithers'."

"You saw them, then," Miss McPherson continued, addressing herself to
Mrs. Jerrold, "You saw Archie, and his wife and Bessie. What is Archie
like? I never saw him, but I have his wife. She was the daughter of a
milliner, or dressmaker, or ballet-dancer, from Wales, in the vicinity
of Bangor, or Carnarvon, I believe."

"Carnarvon!" Hannah repeated quickly, while a sudden pallor came to her
lips and forehead, but no one noticed it, and Geraldine hesitated a
little, uncertain as to how far she dared to tell the truth and not give
offense.

But she was soon relieved from all uneasiness on that score, by Miss
McPherson, who, noticing her hesitancy, said:

"Don't be afraid to tell me exactly as it is, for were Archie ten times
my nephew, I would rather hear the whole truth just as Grey told it of
Neil. So, then, what did you think of Archie? I have an idea he is a
good-natured, good for nothing, shiftless fellow, who never earned a
penny in his life, and who gets his living from any one who will give it
to him."