happier than I am; to hear father call me his--Tyrant? I don't want
anything better than that."

"Nonsense!" said Mrs. Dale decidedly. "If you had a husband to call you
_his_ Tyrant, it would be a thousand times better. I declare, I always
think, when we pray for 'all who are destitute and oppressed,' it means
the old maids. I'm sure the 'fatherless children and widows' are thought
of, and why not the poor, forlorn, unmarried women? Indeed, I think
Archibald is almost selfish to keep you at home as he does. My girls
would never have been settled if I had let them stay in Ashurst. I've
a great mind to tell your father he isn't doing his duty. You ought to
have a winter in town."

"Indeed, I hope you won't tell him anything of the sort!" cried Lois. "I
wouldn't leave Ashurst for the world, and I'm perfectly happy, I assure
you!"

"Don't be so silly," said Mrs. Dale calmly, "or think that no one loves
your father but yourself. He was my brother for thirty-four years before
he was your father. I only spoke for your good, and his too, for of
course he would be happier if you were."

She stopped here to gather her cards up, and deal them out again in
little piles, and also to reprove Lois, who had made an impatient gesture
at her words.

"These little restless ways you have are very unpleasant," she said; "my
girls never did such things. I don't know where you get your unlady-like
habits; not from your father, I'm sure. I suppose it's because you don't
go out at all; you never see anybody. There, that reminds me. I have had
a letter from Arabella Forsythe. I don't know whether you remember the
Forsythes; they used to visit here; let me see, fifteen years ago was the
last time, I think. Well, they are going to take the empty house near us
for the summer. She was a Robinson; not really Ashurst people, you know,
not born here, but quite respectable. Her father was a button
manufacturer, and he left her a great deal of money. She married a person
called Forsythe, who has since died. She has one boy, about your age,
who'll be immensely rich one of these days; he is not married. Heaven
knows when Ashurst will see an eligible young man again," she added; and
then, absently, "Eight on a nine, and there's a two-spot for my clubs!"

"I wonder if I remember Mrs. Forsythe?" Lois said, wrinkling her pretty
forehead in a puzzled way. "Wasn't she a tall, thin lady, with a pleasant
face?"

"Yes," answered Mrs. Dale, nodding her sle