val, soon had the small arm set and comfortably
bandaged; and once safely in bed, although more upset than she wished
anyone to imagine, Cherry regained her usual half-affectionate
half-patronizing manner, and insisted upon Anstice sitting down beside
her "for at least five minutes, my dear!"

With a smile, Anstice sat down as requested; and Cherry instantly began
to question him on the subject of Greengates.

"Isn't it a fassynating house, my dear?" Cherry never employed a short
word when she thought a long one fairly appropriate. "Have you seen
Iris' bedroom?--all done in white and purple and green--and irises
everywhere--on the walls and the curtains--just like a gorjus purple
iris what grows in the garden?"

"No, I've not seen Miss Wayne's bedroom," owned Anstice rather hastily.
"But it couldn't be prettier than this--why, those bunches of cherries
on the wall are so life-like that I wonder the birds don't come in to
make a meal of them!"

"Do you like them?" Cherry was openly gratified by his approval. "But I
wish you could see Iris' room. She always takes me there to wash my
hands and face, and the basin is all over irises too."

"Fassynating" as these details of Miss Wayne's domestic arrangements
might be, Anstice judged it safer to switch his small patient on to
another topic; and in an animated discussion as to the proper age at
which a young lady might begin to ride a motor-bicycle--Cherry inclining
to seven, Anstice to seventeen years--the promised five minutes flew
swiftly away.

"You'll come again, my dear?" Cherry's anxiety to ensure his attendance
was flattering, and he laughed and assured her he would visit her every
day if she desired it.

As a matter of fact he did visit her with some regularity; for she
managed, with a perversity known only to imps of a like nature, to catch
a severe chill which puzzled her attendants, none of them knowing of a
certain feverishly delightful ten minutes spent in hanging out of the
window holding an interesting conversation with the gardener's boy below
on the subject of broken bones. In any case, Anstice found it necessary
to call at Cherry Orchard on several consecutive days; and during the
child's illness and subsequent convalescence he was perforce obliged to
come into contact with Mrs. Carstairs herself.

As a physiological study Chloe interested him strongly. Although she
appeared genuinely fond of her little daughter and waited on her night
and day with