It was delightful to nestle
back against the cushions and study one by one the dainty appointments
of the room, and revel in the unaccustomed sense of space. Imagine just
for a moment--imagine possessing such a home of one's own! The house,
with its treasures of beautiful and artistic furnishings, which
represented the lifelong gatherings of a man renowned for his taste; the
extensive grounds, with gardens and vineries and forests of glass,
providing an endless summer of blossom; the income, that in itself was a
fortune, and held such inexhaustible possibilities of good. What she
could do with it, if it were only hers! With one stroke of the pen she
would repay the poor old tired pater for all his goodness in the past,
and lift the weight of care for the future from his shoulders. She
would heap luxuries upon the dear little mother, who was still a child
at heart; so pathetically easy to please that it seemed a sin that she
should ever be sad. The girls should be sent to finishing schools, and
the boys given a thorough training to equip them for their fight in
life. Mollie, of course, should live at the Court, and share equally in
all her possessions; and they would travel, and help the poor, and be
kind to everyone, and never forget the day of small things! or grow
arrogant and purse-proud. Ruth dreamed on in a passion of longing till
Mollie, standing before the dressing-table, with her white arms raised
to her head, caught sight of her face in the mirror, and uttered a sharp
exclamation.

"Ruth! What is it, darling?"

Ruth started nervously and glanced upwards with guilty eyes, but there
was nothing alarming in the aspect of the figure which stood over her,
white necked, white armed, with the loosened golden hair falling round
the anxious face. She caught the outstretched hand, and gripped it
tightly between her own.

"Oh, Mollie, I want it! I want it _dreadfully_! When I think of the
possibility I feel half wild. If I am disappointed, I believe I shall
die! I can't be unselfish, even for you. I want it for myself!"

She was on the verge of tears, but Mollie's matter-of-fact cheeriness
had the usual bracing effect. She seemed neither shocked nor surprised,
but only anxious to soothe.

"Of course you do; so do we all!" she replied easily. "It's humbug to
pretend anything else, only I'm not going to die, in any case, but live
and make myself agreeable to the Chosen. If it's you, I shall sponge on