perfectly true that I missed them badly. All the Rachel
Greaveses in the world would never make up for Lorna and the rest!

"But you have your sister!" he said. "I have seen a good deal of your
sister in her morning walks with Mr Sackville. She is a charming
child, and most companionable; I am sure she will be a host in herself!"

"It's very good of you! I can't tell you how pleased I am to hear you
say so!" I said suavely; but do what I would, I could not resist a
giggle, and he stared at me harder than ever, and looked so confused. I
was so afraid that he would find me out and spoil the fun that I
determined not to try to keep up the delusion any longer. He was going
to cross-question me, I could see it quite plainly, so I lay back in my
chair, smoothed out my veil, and smiled at him in my most fascinating
manner.

"I'm so pleased that you have formed such a good opinion of me, Mr
Dudley! I was really afraid you had forgotten me altogether, for you
seemed hardly to recognise me a few minutes ago."

He leant both arms on the table so that his face was quite near to mine.
"_Who are you_?" he asked, and I laughed, and nodded in reply.

"I'm Babs--Una Sackville is my name--England is my nation, Branfield is
my dwelling--"

"Don't joke, please. I want to understand. _You--are--Babs_! Have you
been deliberately deceiving me, then? Pray, what has been your object
in posing as a child all these weeks!"

That made me furious, and I cried hotly--

"I never posed at all--I never deceived you! Father treats me as a
child, and you followed his example as a matter of course, and I was
very pleased to be friends in a sensible manner without any nonsense.
If I had said, `Please, I'm nineteen--I've left school, and am coming
out--this is a hockey skirt, but I wear tails in the evening,' you would
have been proper, and stiff, and have talked about the weather, and we
should have had no fun. If anyone is to blame, it is you, for not
seeing how really old I was!"

He smiled at that, and went on staring, staring at my face, my hair, my
long white gloves, the muslin flounces lying on the ground round my
feet.

"So very old!" he said. "Nineteen, is it? And I put you down as--
fourteen or fifteen, at the most! And so Babs has disappeared. Exit
Babs! I'm sorry. She was a nice child; I enjoyed meeting her very
much. I think we should have been real good friends."

"She has not disappeared at all. You will me