a blue and brown livery which sat like a uniform.

"Well, young ladies," he said, "I hope you enjoyed yourselves."

"Vastly, thank you, Corporal Palmer. And how has it been with my
father in our absence?"

"Purely, Miss Harriet. He relished the Friar's chicken that Miss
Delavie left for him, and he amused himself for an hour with Master
Eugene, after which he did me the honour to play two plays at
backgammon."

"I hope," said the eldest sister, coming up, "that the little rogue
whom I saw peeping from the window has not been troublesome."

"He has been as good as gold, madam. He played in master's room till
Nannerl called him to his bed, when he went at once, 'true to his
orders,' says the master. 'A fine soldier he will make,' says I to
my master."

Therewith the sisters mounted the uncarpeted but well-polished oak
stair, knocked at the father's door, and entered one by one, each
dropping her curtsey, and, though the eldest was five-and-twenty,
neither speaking nor sitting till they were greeted with a hearty,
"Come, my young maids, sit you down and tell your old father your
gay doings."

The eldest took the only unoccupied chair, while the other two placed
themselves on the window-seat, all bolt upright, with both little high
heels on the floor, in none of the easy attitudes of damsels of later