l try to be quiet, mother; it's only 'cos I'm so incited."

"Oh, dear," said Mrs. Ogilvie to herself, "what an awful evening I am
likely to have! When the silly child really finds out that her father
has gone, she will burst into hysterics, or do something else absurd.
I really wish it had been my luck to marry a husband with a grain of
sense. I wonder if I had better tell her now. No, I really cannot.
Miss Winstead must do it. Miss Winstead has been having a nice
holiday, with no fuss or worry of any sort, and it is quite fair that
she should bear the burden of this. But why it should be regarded as a
burden or a trial is a puzzle. Philip goes on a sort of pleasure
expedition to Queensland, and the affair is treated almost as if--as
if it were a death. It is positively uncanny."

Sibyl noticed that her mother was silent, and that she looked worried.
Presently she stretched out her hand and stroked her mother's.

"What are you doing that for?"

"'Cos I thought I'd rub you the right way," said Sibyl. "You are like
a poor cat when it is rubbed the wrong way, aren't you, just now,
mother?"

"Don't be so ridiculous." Mrs. Ogilvie snatched her hand away.

They soon reached the house. The footman, Watson, sprang down and
lowered the steps. Sibyl bounded out and flew into the hall.

"Father, father!" she called. "I'm back. Are you in, father? Here I
are--Sibyl. I'm home again, father. The Angel is home again, father."

She did not often call herself the Angel, the name seemed to have more
or less slipped out of sight, but she did on this occasion, and she
threw back her pretty head and looked up the wide staircase, as if any
moment she might see her father hurrying down to meet her.

Mrs. Ogilvie turned to one of the servants, who was watching the child
in astonishment.

"She does not know yet," whispered Mrs. Ogilvie. "I am going into the
library; don't tell her anything, pray, but send Miss Winstead to me
immediately."

Mrs. Ogilvie entered the library. Sibyl danced in after her.

"I can't see father anywhere," she said: "I 'spect he's not back yet."

"Of course he is not back so early. Now run upstairs and ask Nurse to
make you ready for tea. Leave me, I have something to say to Miss
Winstead."

Miss Winstead appeared at that moment. She had enjoyed her holiday,
and looked the better for it. Though she understood Sibyl very little,
yet at this moment she gazed at the child almost with alarm, for Mrs.
Ogilvi