warm-hearted words and actions. What a
much brighter world it would be if we were more generous in this
respect; how happy we might make our friends, if we gave them the
benefit of our loving thoughts, instead of locking them tightly in our
own breasts!

Eunice opened like a flower beneath the sunny influence of Peggy's
presence, and drove off to the garden-party with an animation most
unusual under the circumstances. Garden-parties were, as a rule,
unmitigated bores, but this one would be an exception! Peggy would be
there, and where Peggy moved fun and brightness followed in her
footsteps; and Arthur had been despatched by Mr Rollo to take his place
in escorting the ladies. Eunice was persuaded that no man in the world
was nobler than her father, but, socially speaking, he had his defects!
It was a little trying to go about with a man who spent his time
discussing politics with other old gentlemen, forgetting all about the
poor, shy little daughter, who languished in a corner, shivering with
cold, or grilling with heat, as the case might be, and striving, oh, so
vainly I to look as if she were enjoying herself. Nor was Mrs Rollo a
great improvement on her husband, for she also was weighed down with the
responsibilities of Guilds, Causes, and Charities, and invariably found
a fellow-member of committee with whom to discuss knotty problems. This
afternoon, as Eunice sat facing her mother in the carriage, she could
see the nervous fingers pull at the ends of the gloves, and the lips
move in mechanical rehearsal of her next address, but the sight gave her
none of the usual forebodings, for this afternoon, at least, she need
not dread desertion. Arthur and Peggy would be her companions, and
never a word of politics or guilds need they speak, from the time they
arrived until the time they came away! Eunice rambled about the
beautiful grounds with the glee of a child escaped from school, and
played the part of appreciative audience with an enthusiasm which could
not fail to be inspiring to her companions.

Arthur looked into the smiling face, and listened to the low sweet
laughter with the incredulous amazement of one who has suddenly received
his sight after a spell of blindness. "Bat," indeed, Peggy had rightly
named him, since he had lived for months in the same house as this
delightful creature, and never realised her charm. When they were
resting together on a garden bench under the shade of a tree, Arthur