f fruit to Verity. He bade Caleb follow him slowly,
and a few minutes later a great bunch of roses and a paper bag of
white-heart cherries and another of greengages were packed into the
perambulator; some sponge-cakes and a crisp little brown loaf were also
purchased for Kit's tea, and then they went rejoicing on their way. As
Malcolm walked on he made up his mind that his first act when he
arrived at the Crow's Nest would be to take counsel with Elizabeth.
"The child will die if something is not done for her," he said to
himself; "perhaps she will be able to suggest something;" but it never
occurred to him to confide in his mother. "Individual cases do not
appeal to her," he had once said to Anna. "She prefers to work on a
more extended scale," and though Anna contradicted this with unusual
warmth, Malcolm had some grounds for his sweeping assertion.

Malcolm spent the evening very pleasantly discussing future
arrangements with his friends. To his satisfaction the room he coveted
was at once allotted to him, with the title of "The Prophet's Chamber;"
and, as he professed himself quite content with the bedroom in the
garden-house, matters were soon settled, and both Verity and Amias
looked pleased when Malcolm announced his intention of spending most of
his summer vacation at the Crow's Nest. They talked a good deal about
the Wood House. Malcolm gave graphic descriptions of the house and the
garden and the Pool, and he also drew rather a charming picture of the
elder Miss Templeton.

"She is lovely in my opinion," he said in his enthusiastic way. "I
quite long for you to see her, Verity. She is just a gray-haired girl.
She has the secret of perpetual youth. She is as guileless and simple
as a child--any one could deceive her, and yet she is wise too."

"And her sister?" asked Verity, as Malcolm paused.

"Oh, Miss Elizabeth Templeton is quite different," returned Malcolm
hurriedly, as he filled his pipe; "it is not easy to describe her--you
must judge of her yourself."

"Then she is not as nice as this wonderful Dinah?" observed Verity in a
disappointed tone.

"Oh, yes, she is quite as nice," he returned briefly; "but the sisters
are utterly dissimilar." And not another word could Verity, with all
her teasing, extract from Malcolm.

"I should like you to be perfectly unbiassed in your opinion," he
remarked sententiously. Verity made a naughty little face in the
darkness.

"I wonder if it is the Crow's Nest, our