s to take
you!" she sobbed. "I never did think he looked quite good. Mother would
be so angry and unhappy if she knew; she says theatres are not good for
young people."

"It is just a crank on mother's part," returned Malcolm loudly; his
eyes were bright with excitement. "It was the loveliest thing you ever
saw, Anna. The princess was a beauty, and no mistake; even Charles
thought so, and he has seen princesses by the score. I am glad I went;
the boys won't think me such a duffer when I tell them. Don't shake
your head, Anna; you are a girl, and you don't understand how much one
has to put up with from the fellows. They call me the Puritan, and ask
if I wear pinafores at home. But I stopped that," and here Malcolm
doubled up his fists in a singularly suggestive manner.

Malcolm's only sister, a pretty, fair-haired girl, had died of fever
when she was eight years old, and for years Mrs. Herrick had felt her
loss too deeply to mention her name. "If Florence had lived," she once
said rather bitterly to her son, "she would have been my close
companion, and we should have thought alike on all points;" but it may
be doubted if this maternal dream would ever have been realised.

A mere accident had led to the adoption of Anna Sheldon shortly after
Florence's death. She was the orphan child of a young artist in whom
Mrs. Herrick had interested herself, and when the broken-hearted wife
had followed her husband, Mrs. Herrick had taken the lonely child home.

The kind action had brought its own reward. Anna's gentleness and
sweetness of disposition soon won the affection of her adopted mother.
She was submissive by nature, and yielded readily to the opinions and
wishes of those she loved. Mrs. Herrick's ideas on the subject of
education might be bracing and invigorating, but there was nothing
oppressive in her rule. Perhaps she understood girls better than boys,
for Anna thrived under her system. The old nurse Mrs. Dawson, who still
officiated as Mrs. Herrick's personal attendant, taught her
needle-work: an excellent governess, who was both judicious and
reasonable, presided over the schoolroom and accompanied her in her
walks; nor was she entirely without companions, for she attended
dancing and deportment classes with the young daughters of their vicar,
a much-esteemed guide, philosopher, and friend to the Herrick family.

Until the governess, Miss Greenwood, left them to be married, and Anna
grew up to woman's estate, her