"I suppose you are, Miss Maxwell," said Philip. "Do you often
go out?"

"Sometimes, to drive," said Aunt Jane. "Yesterday I went
shopping with Kate, and sat in the carriage while she bought
under-sleeves enough for a centipede. It is always so with
that child. People talk about the trouble of getting a daughter
ready to be married; but it is like being married once a month
to live with her."

"I wonder that you take her to drive with you," suggested
Philip, sympathetically.

"It is a great deal worse to drive without her," said the
impetuous lady. "She is the only person who lets me enjoy
things, and now I cannot enjoy them in her absence. Yesterday
I drove alone over the three beaches, and left her at home with
a dress-maker. Never did I see so many lines of surf; but they
only seemed to me like some of Kate's ball-dresses, with the
prevailing flounces, six deep. I was so enraged that she was
not there, I wished to cover my face with my handkerchief. By
the third beach I was ready for the madhouse."

"Is Oldport a pleasant place to live in?" asked Emilia,
eagerly.

"It is amusing in the summer," said Aunt Jane, "though the
society is nothing but a pack of visiting-cards. In winter it
is too dull for young people, and only suits quiet old women
like me, who merely live here to keep the Ten Commandments and