water-ice. The children,
Miss Minerva, preferred the cream-ice. And, do you know, I'm of their
opinion. There's something in a cream-ice--what do you think yourself of
cream-ices, Mr. Le Frank?"

It was one among the many weaknesses of Mr. Gallilee's character to be
incapable of opening his lips without, sooner or later, taking somebody
into his confidence. In the merest trifles, he instinctively invited
sympathy and agreement from any person within his reach--from a total
stranger quite as readily as from an intimate friend. Mr. Le Frank,
representing the present Court of Social Appeal, attempted to deliver
judgment on the question of ices, and was interrupted without ceremony
by Miss Minerva. She, too, had been waiting her opportunity to speak,
and she now took it--not amiably.

"With all possible respect, Mr. Gallilee, I venture to entreat that you
will be a little more thoughtful, where the children are concerned. I
beg your pardon, Mr. Le Frank, for interrupting you--but it is really
a little too hard on Me. I am held responsible for the health of these
girls; I am blamed over and over again, when it is not my fault, for
irregularities in their diet--and there they are, at this moment,
chilled with ices and cloyed with cakes! What will Mrs. Gallilee say?"

"Don't tell her," Mr. Gallilee suggested.

"The girls will be thirsty for the rest of the evening," Miss Minerva
persisted; "the girls will have no appetite for the last meal before
bedtime. And their mother will ask Me what it means."

"My good creature," cried Mr. Gallilee, "don't be afraid of the girls'
appetites! Take off their hats, and give them something nice for supper.
They inherit my stomach, Miss Minerva--and they'll 'tuck in,' as we used
to say at school. Did they say so in your time, Mr. Le Frank?"

Mrs. Gallilee's governess and vulgar expressions were anomalies never to
be reconciled, under any circumstances. Miss Minerva took off the hats
in stern silence. Even "Papa" might have seen the contempt in her face,
if she had not managed to hide it in this way, by means of the girls.

In the silence that ensued, Mr. Le Frank had his chance of speaking, and
showed himself to be a gentleman with a happily balanced character--a
musician, with an eye to business. Using gratitude to Mr. Gallilee as a
means of persuasion, he gently pushed the interests of a friend who was
giving a concert next week. "We poor artists have our faults, my dear
sir; but we