bonnet with her handkerchief. "What can you expect from a child's
promise? But poor Cecil rarely does right in your eyes."

"Nonsense, Ada!"

"Not at all. I am very observant. But tell me, did Colonel Ormonde take
much notice of Cecil?"

"I do not know. I was too much frightened to see anything but the dear
child himself."

Mrs. Frederic did not reply for a moment; she seemed to be thinking
deeply. "Where did you get those flowers--those you bought on Saturday
for sixpence?"

"Oh! at the little florist's on Queen's Road. It was late in the
evening, you know, or they would not have been so cheap."

"I should like some to-morrow to make the drawing-room look pretty, if
possible, for Colonel Ormonde said he would call. He wishes to see some
of my Otocammed photographs. Heigho! it is a miserable place to receive
any one in."

"Well, you see, it must do."

"Really, Katherine, you are very unsympathetic. If you have a fault,
dear, it is selfishness. You don't mind my saying so?"

"Oh, not at all. I am thankful for the 'if.'"