pretty, to be the mother of those six big girls; and a stranger looking
in at the scene would have put her down as a helpless little creature,
too meek and gentle to cope with such heavy responsibilities. But the
stranger would have been mistaken.

"Mother darling," said Christabel insinuatingly, "granting always that
you are the kindest and most amiable of mothers, do you happen to feel
in an extra specially angelic temper this evening?"

"An `oh-certainly-my-darlings-do-whatever-you-please' temper!" chimed in
Nan sweetly; "because if you do--"

"I hope I shall never be so forgetful of my duties as to say anything so
indiscreet," replied Mrs Rendell firmly. "Margaret, your hair is
tumbling down again! Kneel down, and let me fasten it for you at once!"

Nan knelt down meekly, her roguish face on a level with her mother's,
and the brown coils were twisted and hair-pinned together with swift,
decided fingers.

"You must do it like this--do you see!--tighter, closer, more firmly!"

"Yes, mother."

"It's disgraceful that a big girl like you--a girl nearly eighteen--
should not be able to do her own hair!"

"Yes, mother."

"You wouldn't like to be known as the girl with the untidy hair, I
suppose, or to have a collapse of this sort in church or in the street?"

"No, mother."

"Then pray, my dear, be more careful. Don't let me have to speak
again."

"I'll try, mother. A rough head, but a loving heart! You might kiss me
now and say you're sorry, for you stuck two hair-pins right into my
scalp, and I never winced!"

Mrs Rendell smiled, and laid a gentle hand on the girl's cheek. For
one moment her dignified airs seemed to vanish, and nothing but motherly
tenderness shone in her eyes, but the next she drew herself up again,
stiff as a little poker, and said lightly--

"Nonsense, nonsense! Get up, child, and don't be ridiculous! Sit on
that high chair, and don't stoop! I can't endure to see a young girl
lounging on a couch. What is this new scheme that you wish to ask me
about to-night?"

"Mother dear, you know you like us to be charitable! You are always
preaching--er, I mean impressing upon us--that we ought to remember the
poah," said Christabel, standing up as stiff as a grenadier, and smiling
at her mother in her most ingratiating manner. Mrs Rendell would have
died rather than acknowledge a special weakness towards any member of
her flock; but as a matter of fact her youngest-born possessed