ected to notice nothing unusual, and talked
away in cheery accents, discussing various practical matters concerning
the proposed visit, in which it was impossible not to feel an interest.
Maud's tears dried gradually; she found herself suggesting amendments to
the plans, and growing momentarily more interested and eager. She was
to be entrusted with a sum of money with which to buy presents for her
sisters, besides a well-filled purse for her own use. She and Mabel
could choose their summer clothes together, amid the bewildering
fascinations of Parisian fashions; and there was absolutely no limit in
the amount of sight-seeing permissible. She could run the whole gamut,
from the Louvre to the Catacombs, and get to know her Paris almost as
well as she knew her London. What girl of twenty-three would not feel
her woes assuaged by such a programme, especially in the company of a
bosom friend to whom she had been devoted from childhood?

Mr and Mrs Rendell rejoiced to see Maud's brightening face, and to
hear her voice raised to its old happy ring, as she busied herself with
preparations for her journey; and Nan rejoiced as much as they, and
racked her brains to discover how she could best assist in the same
preparations.

"Let me do some sewing for you! Do let me help!" she pleaded, and
proceeded to stitch up the seams entrusted to her with such
unprecedented care and neatness, that Maud hid the garments at the
bottom of her box, not having the heart to disclose that the seams were
on the wrong side, and must needs be as laboriously unpicked! She upset
a box of tooth-powder over a blue serge skirt; squeezed a bundle of
boots on the top of a chiffon bodice, and went beaming downstairs,
feeling that at last she had learned to be domesticated and to render
efficient service!

Maud departed smiling and cheery, and all the members of the family drew
a breath of relief as she drove off from the door. The secret
consciousness of her suffering had been a cloud over their spirits for
the past month, and now, as was only natural, a reaction set in, when
restrained spirits found their vent.

Mr and Mrs Rendell went up to town for a couple of nights to attend a
dinner-party and reception, and the girls discussed how they could best
organise a little festivity on their own account. It was decided to
hold the first picnic of the season, bicycling to a favourite spot in
the woods, where primroses and bluebells were luxuriant, a