haired,
and spectacled!) to her beautiful, clever daughter? She sighed, once
for Rhoda's disappointment, and once again, and with an added stab, for
herself.

Several times lately Mr Chester had hinted that Rhoda was getting too
much for Fraulein, and should be sent to school, while Harold had
treacherously seconded his father with remarks of such brotherly candour
as made his mother hot with indignation. Jim was mercifully away from
home, but even so it was two against one, and she instinctively felt
that Fraulein's defection would be seized upon by the enemy and the
attack pressed home upon the first opportunity. And now it had come,
and there sat the poor, dear soul, shedding tears of anguish on her
lace-edged handkerchief, as she vainly tried to oppose the inevitable.

"I cannot, and will not, part from my child!"

"Nonsense, mother, you parted from me, and I shall take it as a personal
insult if you insinuate that you would feel Rhoda's absence more than
you did mine. Remember how delighted you were when I came back!
Remember the holidays, how happy you were, how interested in all I had
to tell!"

Harold Chester crossed the room, and laid his hand on his mother's
shoulder with a kindly gesture. He looked as if he were made on the
same principle as the other objects of _vertu_ in the room, and if Mrs
Chester had desired to possess "the most superfine specimen of sons and
heirs," she had certainly got her wish, so far as appearances were
concerned. Harold was tall and fair, with aquiline features and a manly
carriage. His hair would have curled if it had not been cropped so
close to his head; his clothes were of immaculate cut. At twenty-five
he was known as one of the most daring sportsmen in the county, and if
he had not distinguished himself at college, he had, at least, scrambled
through with the crowd. His mother declared with pride that he had
never given her an hour's anxiety since he had had the measles, and
thanked Heaven for her mercies every time she saw him ride off to the
hunt in his beautiful pink coat. Harold was her first-born darling, but
Rhoda was the baby, and she could not bring herself to believe that her
baby was growing up.

"The child will fret and break her heart. I don't care about myself,
but I will not have her made unhappy. She has such a sensitive heart!"
She sobbed as she spoke, and Harold laughed.

"You trust me, mater; Rhoda is as well able to take care of herself a