"Not if you look sharp. 'Wings' will take us there in half-an-hour; it
isn't five miles to the hill. Don't forget to leave your crinoline
behind."

Du Meresq rang the bell, and Cecil re-appeared in a few minutes, innocent
of her "_sans reflectum_," and in a clinging black velveteen suit, with a
golden oriole in her cap, and a scarf of the same hue knotted about her
waist.

"None so dusty," said Bertie, approvingly. "You look best in daring
colours, Cecil."

Personal praise from Du Meresq, however expressed, was not unwelcome to
Cecil, who was sensitively alive to her want of beauty. But she answered,
carelessly,--"Just a refuge for the destitute. I can't wear pale shades,
or blue or green."

"No, my bright brunette; but that Satanic mixture does not misbecome
you,"--and he murmured the words in "May Janet,"--

"The first town they came to there was a blue bride chamber,
He clothed her on with silk, and belted her with amber."

"Come and help me down with the toboggin, Bertie. It is a-top of the
book-shelf,"--and they dragged down a mysterious structure of maple wood,
having the appearance of a plank six feet long by two wide, and turned up
at one end. It had red cord reins, and Cecil's monogram, neatly painted,
on the outside.