"Wants to scold me, I suppose, for pulling his sister's hair. I only
did what she told me to," and with a beating heart she started for the
parlor.

Rosamond was afraid of Mr. Browning, and feeling sure that he intended
to reprove her, she took the chair nearest to the door, and covering
her face with her hands, began to cry, saying--"It was ugly in me, I
know', to pull Mrs. Van Vechten's hair, and I did it on purpose, too;
but I won't do so again, I certainly won't."

Mr. Browning was confounded. This was the first intimation he had
received of the _barbaric_ performance, and for a moment he remained
silent, gazing at the little girl. Her figure was very slight, her
feet and hands were very small, and her hair, though disordered now
and rough, was of a beautiful brown, and fell in heavy curls around
her neck. He saw all this at a glance, but her face, the point to
which his attention was chiefly directed, he could not see until those
little hands were removed, and as a means of accomplishing this he at
last said, kindly--"I do not understand you, Rosamond. My sister has
entered no complaint, and I did not send for you to censure you. I
wish to talk with you--to get acquainted. Will you come and sit by me
upon the sofa?"

Rosamond's hands came down from her face, but she did not leave her
seat; neither did Mr. Browning now wish to have her, for the light of
the chandelier fell full upon her, giving him a much better view of
her features than if she had been nearer to him. If, as Mrs. Peters
had said, Ben Van Vechten was fond of pretty girls, he in a measure
inherited the feeling from his uncle, who was an ardent admirer of the
beautiful, and who now felt a glow of satisfaction in knowing that