mother might have looked, with honest admiration in her kind eyes.

Garth, notwithstanding the pale violet shirt and dark violet tie,
was quite unconscious of his own appearance; and, dazzled by the
golden sunlight, was also unconscious of Jane's look.

"Oh, I say, Miss Champion!" he cried, boyishly. "Isn't it nice that
they have all gone in? I have been wanting a good jaw with you.
Really, when we all get together we do drivel sometimes, to keep the
ball rolling. It is like patting up air-balls; and very often they
burst, and one realises that an empty, shrivelled little skin is all
that is left after most conversations. Did you ever buy air-balls at
Brighton? Do you remember the wild excitement of seeing the man
coming along the parade, with a huge bunch of them--blue, green,
red, white, and yellow, all shining in the sun? And one used to
wonder how he ever contrived to pick them all up--I don't know how!-
-and what would happen if he put them all down. I always knew
exactly which one I wanted, and it was generally on a very inside
string and took a long time to disentangle. And how maddening it was
if the grown-ups grew tired of waiting, and walked on with the
penny. Only I would rather have had none, than not have the one on
which I had fixed my heart. Wouldn't you?"

"I never bought air-balls at Brighton," replied Jane, without
enthusiasm. Garth was feeling seven again, and Jane was feeling
bored.

For once he seemed conscious of this. He took his coat from the back
of the chair where he had hung it, and put it on.