e worst we had. There
are some nasty bits of water this side of Roskillie, and they will be
swollen with all this snow. Now next week over at Aughrin it really
will be pleasant and comfortable."

"I'm so glad, darling! I hope you will enjoy it!" Bridgie put her head
on one side, with a smile of angelic sweetness. Then, as Esmeralda
flounced from the room in disgust, turned back to Mademoiselle,
laughingly penitent.

"Isn't it wicked of me now, but I do enjoy it! She must care very much
to be so shy about asking, for in an ordinary way she would have blurted
it out long ago. Well, I shall just wait until to-morrow, and then I'll
say I am--" she paused to laugh over the word--"indisposed!"

There is many a true word spoken in jest, and Bridgie was reminded of
the proverb when the next morning arrived, and her inclination for
hunting or any other amusement died a sudden death through an incident
which happened at the breakfast-table. The Major was the only one of
the party who received a letter, and when he had perused it he gave an
exclamation of dismay, and leant back in his chair with an expression of
bewilderment. "It can't be! It isn't possible!" he muttered to
himself, and when Bridgie inquired the reason of his distress, he threw
the letter across the table with an impatient movement.

"That wretched bank! They say I have overdrawn. It's impossible,--
there was a decent balance only a few months back! They have made some
mistake. I am positive it is a mistake."

He left the room as he spoke, for breakfast had come to an end at last,
after the usual long-drawn-out proceedings, and he had waited until he
had finished his meal before opening the uninteresting looking envelope,
and only Bridgie was left, sitting patiently behind the urn, with
Mademoiselle to keep her company. She also rose as if to go, feeling
that she might be _de trop_ under the circumstances, but Bridgie raised
a pale face, and said flatly--

"Don't run away, Therese, I'd rather you stayed! I knew it must come
some day. It's only a little sooner than I expected."

"But, _ma cherie_--don't look like that, Bridgie dear! Your father says
there is a mistake. He seemed surprised like yourself. If, as he says,
the bank is mistaken--"

But at this Bridgie shook her head with doleful conviction.

"The bank is never wrong! Oh, I've been through this before, and every
time father declares it's a mistake, but it never is! I've be