," replied Hester, with a faint smile; "but I
think I must stay with Mrs. Lorrimer and Molly. I don't know that I
shall be the least comfort to them, but somehow I can't desert them."

A few moments later the little party drove off, and in the course of
half-an-hour they arrived at the Towers. There was a winding and rather
steep beech avenue, leading up to the older part of the mansion. Owing
to the sad state of Squire Lorrimer's finances, this avenue was by no
means in a state of complete repair. Hester turned her fleet little
ponies--for she was driving--into it. They were spirited, but always
well-behaved; on this occasion, however, they started violently, for
Antonia was heard to utter a piercing shriek of rapture.

"Oh, those briars," she exclaimed--"those heavenly, heavenly, artistic
briars! Stop the carriage, I beg of you, Miss Thornton! I must cut some
without a moment's delay!"

"We can't stop on the side of a hill, Antonia," said Susy. "The ponies
are fretting already, and nothing would induce them to stand still. You
don't want us to be killed, I suppose, for the sake of an odious briar?"

The only answer Antonia made was to press her bony right hand with
unnecessary force on Susy's right arm and vault from the carriage.

"Go on," she said, waving her hand to Hester; "I'll follow you
presently. You don't suppose I'm going to lose a chance of this kind! I
have brought my colour-box with me, and I mean to make a study of those
briars before I go another step."

Suiting her action to her words, Antonia had already seated herself on a
steep bank and was unfastening her portfolio.

"What a show she'll be when she does arrive," exclaimed Susy. "She'll
probably bring three or four enormous briars into the house with her;
but we may be thankful to be rid of her for a little, for she is so
painfully positive. I place the greatest faith, of course, in her
opinions, for she really is a magnificently ugly artist, and ugly art
is, of course, the only correct thing now; but I do think we might have
the bedrooms comfortable, don't you, Hester? With my tendency to forty
winks at odd moments, I think it is scarcely safe to have every room
covered with oak parquetry and rugs that slip about. The doctor says I
am very deficient in muscle, and if I fell I might break a bone rather
badly--don't you think so, Hester?"

"Yes, I do!" said Hester. "I think you had better furnish the Towers
exactly as you please, and not take