to me with an air of triumph, and it was--half-a-
sovereign! I expected several pounds, and had hard work not to show my
disappointment, but I suppose ten shillings means as much to Lorna as
ten pounds to me. Well, I am not at all sure that you don't get more
fun out of planning and contriving to make a little money go a long way,
than in simply going to a shop and ordering what you want. Lorna's
worldly wealth amounted, with the half-sovereign, to seventeen and six-
pence, and with this lordly sum for capital we set to work to transform
the room.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

I have told all our experiences in papering the room together, because
they seemed to come better that way; but, of course, lots of other
things have been happening at the same time. One evening we went to a
concert, and another time some friends came in after dinner, and we
played games and had music. I sang a great deal, and everyone seemed to
like listening, and my dress was the prettiest in the room, and all the
men wanted to talk to me, and it was most agreeable.

On Sunday we went to an ugly town church, but the vicar had a fine, good
face, and I liked his sermon. He seemed to believe in you, and expect
you to do great things, and that is always inspiring. Some clergymen
keep telling you how bad you are, and personally that puts my back up,
and I begin to think I am not half so black as I am painted; but when
this dear man took for granted that you were unselfish and diligent, and
deeply in earnest about good things, I felt first ashamed, and then
eager to try again, and fight the sins that do so terribly easily beset
me. I sang the last hymn in a sort of fervour, and came out into the
cool night air, positively longing for a battle in which I could win my
spurs, and oh dear, dear, in ten minutes' time, before we were half-way
home, I was flirting with Wallace, and talking of frivolous worldly
subjects, as if I had never had a serious thought in my life!

It's so terribly hard to remember, and keep on remembering when one is
young, but God must surely understand. I don't think He will be angry.
He knows that deep, deep down I want most of all to be good!

Wallace is nice and kind and clever, and I like him to like me, but I
could never by any possibility like him--seriously, I mean! I can't
tell why; it's just one of the mysterious things that comes by instinct
when you grow up to be a woman. There is a great gulf thousands of
mi