she spoke, and lay back against
the cushions, for really it was rather nice to have Rob anxious about
her, and to see the troubled tenderness in his eyes! She fluttered her
fan to and fro in a feeble, exhausted fashion, while Rob continued to
stare and to frown.

"You look too much like the rest of 'em. That's what I complain of!" he
said discontentedly, eyeing the details of her dress, and pointing with
a long brown finger to the bracelets on her wrist. "All these fixings-
up! Have you grown into a fashionable young lady, by any chance,
Mariquita? Are you going to join the social treadmill, and spend your
time in a rush after gaiety and enjoyment? or are you the same little
girl I used to know, who had an ideal of her own, and wanted to do
something grand and noble with her life? Which of the two is it? I
can't decide!"

"Oh, Rob!" cried Peggy piteously, and clapped her hands together. "Oh,
Rob, it's both! I do want to be good more than anything else in the
world. That wish is always there, at the very bottom of my heart, and
at any moment, if I were called upon to choose, I would give up
anything--anything! to do what was right. But I want to enjoy myself
too, and to have some fun, and go about to everything that is going on,
and wear pretty clothes, and be--be admired, and praised, and flattered!
There! I couldn't say so to any one else, but I always did confide in
you, Rob; and you won't be shocked. I seem to have two separate sides,
and the worst side is often the strongest. Do you think it is very
wrong of me, Rob? I'm so young, you see, so young, and so fond of
amusement!"

"Poor little Peg!" said Rob tenderly. "Poor little Peg! You were
always an honest little soul, and owned up about your failings. Well,
there it is, and you must fight it out for yourself. No one can help
you in a case like this, and you'll come out all right in the end, so
long as you keep a true heart. I suppose it's only natural that you
should want your fling. Most girls do, and find a mysterious pleasure
in gadding about, and dressing themselves up like dolls." He scanned
her once again with amused, half-angry admiration. "You are mighty
smart, Miss Mariquita--a very fine bird! It must have taken a long time
to put on all those feathers. Are those what you call your feet? Have
you been going in for the binding system in India, may I ask?"

"What is the matter with my feet?" queried Peggy, in a tone of injury,