it on. Clara had gone to
the musicale and would not be home until late. Then she gathered up her
curls and stuffed them in the crown. Yes, she did suggest the Boyd girl.
The resemblance teased her, and the girls had found that out. She wound
a veil around her head and they stole through the hall when it was
deserted and went scuddering through the Park.

It was a cloudy afternoon, not one to go out for pleasure, and then
everybody had wanted to go down town. Mrs. Trenham lived in the corner
house. There was a garden space between, then a high fence. Phillipa
rang the bell.

A rather unkempt, middle-aged woman answered it.

"Could we see the Clairvoyant?"

"Well," hesitatingly. "All of you? I'm rather--yes, walk in."

The room was untidy, the books on the table dusty, and some clothing
thrown over several chairs.

"Young girls always want a peep in the future," and she gave an abrupt
laugh. "You don't any of you look as if you needed medical advice. My, I
seldom see such rosy, good looking girls. Now, I'll tell you--it's a
dollar if I go into a trance and see you inside, up and down and I can
tell to a T whether there's anything the matter. But I don't believe you
want that. S'pose I just run over the cards and see what kind of a
Christmas you're going to have and how many lovers and who's going to
wear a diamond. That's fifty cents."

"That's enough to spend on such foolery," laughed Phillipa.

She pushed out some chairs and took up a pack of cards, threw them
aside and took a clean pack off of the mantlepiece. "Now you try first,"
motioning to Phillipa. "Why I can see by your face there's lots of
fortune coming to you. You're the kind of girl men quarrel over."

She had become a very astute reader of faces and could tell by the
brightening of an eye or the movement of a feature whether she was on
the right tack.

"Your home isn't here and you are going to it in a few days. You
see--here's the house and there's a distance between," pointing out the
cards. "They are making a big time and lots of company, a great
Christmas dinner, and a dance in the evening, and you'll get kissed
under the mistletoe--but you won't marry that man. There's two of
them--three of them and two offers of marriage. Some one you haven't
seen much of, and there'll be talk of a diamond."

She shuffled the cards and ran over them again, enlarging upon the
lovers and jealous girls as well as men, presents and fun. "But you're
going to