we should like to give a
contribution, but we had so little money that it seemed hardly worth
while sending it; and then the sale was suggested. The first idea was
to help the Mission, but we did think that it would be good fun for
ourselves as well! There is no harm in that, is there? You have said
lots of times that you love cheerful givers, and it must be better to do
a thing willingly than grumbling all the time. Do people who get up
bazaars never think of the fun, and the dresses, and the meeting with
their friends, but only just of the charity for which they are working?
Oh, mother, I don't believe they do! I've heard you say yourself--"

"Nan, Nan, Nan! I object to be quoted! It is dreadful to have an
audience of six girls swallowing every word, and bringing them up in
judgment on the first convenient opportunity!" Mrs Rendell showed her
pretty teeth in a smile of amusement, and returned to the subject in
hand with suspicious haste. "Well, you are honest, at any rate, and so
long as you keep the idea of helping others to the fore, and don't allow
it to be crowded out by the thought of your own enjoyment, I don't see
anything to object to in your scheme. No; I don't give my consent yet!
You must think it over quietly for a week, and be quite sure of your own
minds. A sale would involve more work than you think; for you will have
to give up time and money and do the thing thoroughly, if you once take
it in hand. I will promise nothing to-night; for I wonder how many
times you have come to me brimming over with enthusiasm about some new
plan, and how often it has collapsed like a bubble in a couple of days!
You are such changeable children!"

"Oh, Mummy, come! Call things by their nice names," pleaded Nan. "It's
not fickleness--it's fertility of imagination; it's not a collapse--it's
only a fresh beginning! But we really mean it this time, and you mean
to say `Yes,' too. I know you do; so nothing now remains but to talk it
over with Kitty in the morning."

"Ah, yes! Until Kitty has been consulted nothing can be called
certain," said Mrs Rendell, smiling again; and as she spoke she lifted
her head in a listening gesture, and pushed her stool from the fire.
She had heard the opening of a door, and knew that her husband had
finished his after-dinner cigar and was on his way to the drawing-room;
and the next moment he appeared on the threshold, looked round the group
by the fire, and threw himself in