up,"
said Ruth.

"I don't think they should," was Julia's reply. "But it is quite too bad
of papa to expect poor Gerald to slave away in that office all day. He
is quite a tyrant, and grudges the poor fellow any pleasure."

"Julia! Julia! I am sure it is very wrong of you to talk in that way of
your parents," cried Ruth reproachfully. "Don't you know the Bible says,
'Honour thy father and mother'?"

"What an old-fashioned, tiresome creature you are!" muttered Julia in a
sleepy voice.

CHAPTER VII.

A POOR RELATION.

"When are we to have the picnic, mamma?" asked Julia at breakfast the
next morning.

"Any day will suit me; but as your father and Gerald will only be here
for a short time, I think we must arrange to have it as early as
possible the week after next."

"Let us have it on Monday. Yes, Monday," cried Rupert and Julia
together.

"I am going out boating on Monday," said Gerald lazily.

"Tuesday or Wednesday," suggested Mrs. Woburn.

"I am engaged for Tuesday also, but Wednesday is clear, I believe,"
replied the young man in a careless manner, as if it did not signify
much to him whether he formed one of the party or not.

"How horrid of you to put it off so long," exclaimed his sister angrily.
"I daresay Wednesday will be wet."

"_Nous verrons_," he replied, as he sauntered from the room with his
hands in his pockets. He looked in again at the door to say, "I shall
not be back until the evening, mother;" and in another moment the
banging of the front-door told them that he had left the house.

"It is too bad of Gerald to go off like that the very first day he is
here," said Julia. "I suppose he has taken his bicycle and gone out with
his friends, the Goodes. Horrid people! Yes, there he is," she cried as
Gerald and two other young men on bicycles passed the house bowing and
smiling towards the window where the two girls were standing.

"Gerald out with the Goodes? I wish he would choose some other
companions," said Mr. Woburn, who had scarcely noticed their previous
conversation.

"You see how papa finds fault with him," whispered Julia to her cousin.

"Ruth, I want you to come to my room for a few minutes," said Mrs.
Woburn; and her niece followed her upstairs.

"I should like you to try on these things and see how they fit you," she
said, as she pointed to some pretty dresses spread out on the bed. There
was a pale pink, trimmed with dainty white lace; a figured sateen
covered