We may not be able
actually to transmit our virtues to them, but surely by guardian
influence we can help them imitate ancestral good qualities. Guardian
angels of our own blood are a great deal nearer than outside angels,
and I believe the dear Lord appoints them whenever he can; and if so,
why shouldn't the good women who are in heaven take interest in my baby
who will bear their name? It _is_ their name still, and it must hurt
them to see it soiled; of course they must take interest. Were I an
angel, the child on earth who bore my name should be my special charge."

"Then, according to your showing, Grace, six good women, now holy
angels, have baby and me in constant keeping for love of our ugly name.
The idea is fanciful, and I don't consider it orthodox: but it's
pretty, and I like it. Miss Pocahontas the ninth, you and I must walk
with circumspection, if not to grieve the good ladies up above who are
kind enough to take such interest in us."

Pocahontas mocked at Grace's idea, but it pleased her all the same, and
unconsciously it influenced her more than she knew. She loved the
legends of her house, delighted in the fact of descent from brave men
and true women. The past held her more than is common with the young
people of the present day, and she sought out and treasured all the
records of the six women who had borne her name, from the swarthy
Indian princess down to the gentle gray-haired lady who held the place
of honor at the Lanarth breakfast table.

"Princess," said Mrs. Mason, as she distributed the sugar and cream, "I
wish you'd ring the bell. Rachel must have breakfast ready by this
time, and I hear Berkeley's step outside."

Princess rang the bell quite meekly. The pet sobriquet was in as
familiar use among them as her real name, but her touch on the bell did
not suggest the imperiousness of royalty. Aunt Rachel was an old
family servant, faithful, fat, and important, and Aunt Rachel _hated_
to be hurried. She said "it pestered her, an' made her spile the
vittles." She answered promptly this time, however, entering with the
great waiter of hot and tasty dishes before the bell had ceased its
faint tintinnabulation. Berkeley, a tall fair man, whose right sleeve
was fastened against his breast, entered also.

"I saw Jim Byrd this morning," he remarked as he seated himself, after
the customary greeting to his mother and sister. "He called here on
his way over to Roy Garnett's, where he w