ave yet to learn that the Savilles are unworthy of any alliance which
they may choose to make. I can't be a hypocrite even to please you,
Arthur, and I'll have nothing more to say to Rosalind Darcy from this
hour!" protested Peggy violently, then suddenly melted into tears, and
laying her head on Arthur's shoulder, proceeded to contradict every word
she had spoken. "Yes, I will! I'll do anything you want, but, oh, why
did you do it? Why did you fall in love at all? Why couldn't you go on
loving me best, and being happy and comfortable?"

Peggy wept and moaned, and Arthur shook her by the shoulder with all a
man's horror at the sight of tears.

"Hold hard, Peg! Hold hard! For pity's sake don't cry! Your eyes will
be crimson in another moment, and the Rollos will be coming in to tea,
and wondering what on earth is the matter. So unbecoming, too! What a
funny little fright you do look, to be sure!" said Arthur shrewdly, and
chuckled in triumph as Peggy stopped short in the middle of a sob, and,
with two tears in the very act of rolling down her nose, rushed to the
nearest mirror and began dabbing at her face with a minute pocket-
handkerchief.

"Horrors! They do look red. I'll go up to my room and stand in a
draught, and you must keep the visitors occupied till I come down.
Don't let father get impatient. I'll come back the moment I am
respectable," she cried, and flew breathlessly from the room, just in
time to avoid Mrs and Miss Rollo, who entered by another door.

The "country cousin" sight-seeing had been carried on with much gusto in
the intervals of house-hunting, and more than once Eunice Rollo had been
included in the party, for, like many Londoners born and bred, she had
neglected to visit places close at hand, and was delighted to have so
pleasant an opportunity of making their acquaintance.

The three girls spent an afternoon in the British Museum, and discussed
Mollusks and Lepidoptera with surreptitious pauses to yawn behind the
glass cases, until the first barriers of formality were broken down by
the fascination of Egyptian mummies, and the thrilling, imaginary
histories which Peggy wove concerning their life on earth. They went
over the Tower, and enlivened the tedium of a Beefeater's life by
discussing in his presence how best to steal the treasured Koh-i-nor;
and finally, they visited the National Gallery, and on their return
Mellicent and Eunice sat on Peggy's bed, while that young pers