ne, and Gabrielle had no
existence. The happy dreams which had been woven about them could never
be fulfilled. It was indeed a cruel and crushing disappointment.

"What can he want with a house like that, the selfish, horrid creature?"
demanded Agatha, nigh to tears. "If he is an invalid, what is the use
of having a house big enough to hold a regiment of soldiers? There are
hundreds of villas where he might have been as ill as he liked, without
monopolising our only Grange! What is to become of us, if all the best
houses in the country are sold to hermits, and invalids, and white-
haired old patriarchs, with not a single child to boast of! Selfish!
Inconsiderate!"

"I'm sorry his back is bad; but he had no business to come here," agreed
Chrissie firmly. "We don't want invalids. We want a nice, big, lively
family, with plenty of money and hospitable hearts. Oh dear! I'm
lonely without Gabrielle. I'd taken such a fancy to her! This is worse
than if the place had never been sold at all."

"But still, you know the old man may be nice!" Kitty suggested
hopefully. "Wouldn't it be lovely if he took a fancy to us, and made us
all his heirs? A million each! I'd buy a pony-cart and a phonograph--a
friend of father has a phonograph at his home, and it's such fun
listening to it. The cornet-solo is fine, and there's a cylinder of a
baby crying which sounds just like a dog barking. The poor little soul
was quite good, but its parents thought it would be nice to preserve its
howls; so they pinched it and made it cry. Mean, I call it! Imagine
her feelings when she is grown up, and this wretched thing is wound up
to amuse strangers. So degrading! Parents ought to consider their
children's feelings. I read an awful story once of a girl who was
looking over old magazines with some friends, and she came upon a
photograph of herself as an advertisement of Infants' Food! If that had
happened to me, I should disown my parents and leave the country. Mr
Vanburgh hasn't any children of his own, but he may like us all the more
for that. It would be an interest in life for him to make us happy, and
we should reward him by our devotion. It sounds like a book, and
perhaps it may turn out for the best, after all. I believe it will!"

"Don't be so horribly resigned! I hate people who are resigned when I
am miserable!" said Chrissie sharply. "I want some nice girls, and I
don't care a rap about phonographs--silly, sque