hat; and you might ask the little Leicesters next door
to come to tea to-morrow. There are a hundred ways in which the mind
of a child can be diverted."

"Not the mind of Sibyl with regard to her father," interrupted Miss
Winstead.

"Well, for goodness' sake, don't make too much of it. You know how
peculiar he is, and how peculiar she is. Just tell her that he has
gone away for a couple of months--that he has gone on an expedition
which means money, and that _I_ am pleased about it, that he has done
it for my sake and for her sake. Tell her he'll be back before the
summer is over. You can put it any way you like, only do it, Miss
Winstead--do it!"

"When?" asked Miss Winstead. She turned very pale, and leant one hand
on the table.

"Oh, when you please, only don't worry me. You had better take her off
my hands at once. Just tell her that I am tired and have a headache,
and won't see her until the morning; I really must lie down, and
Hortense must bathe my forehead. If I don't I shall look a perfect
wreck to-night, and it is going to be a big dinner; I have been
anxious for some time to go. And afterwards there is a reception at
the Chinese Embassy; I am going there also. Please ask Watson, on your
way through the hall, to have tea sent to my boudoir. And now you
quite understand?"

"But, please, say exactly what I am to tell your little girl."

"Don't you know? Say that her father has gone--oh, by the way, there's
a letter for her. I really don't know that she ought to have it. Her
father is sure to have said something terribly injudicious, but
perhaps you had better give it to her. You might give it to her when
you are telling her, and tell her to read it by-and-by, and not to be
silly, but to be sensible. That is my message to her. Now pray go,
Miss Winstead. Are you better? Have you had a nice time while we were
away?"

"I still suffer very badly with my head," said Miss Winstead, "but the
quiet has done me good. Yes, I will try and do my best. I saw Mr.
Ogilvie the day he left; he did not look well, and seemed sorrowful.
He asked me to be kind to Sibyl."

"I sincerely trust you are kind to the child; if I thought you did not
treat her with sympathy and understanding I should be obliged----"

"Oh, you need not go on," said Miss Winstead, coloring, and looking
annoyed. "I know my duty. I am not a woman with very large
sympathies, or perhaps very wide views, but I try to do my duty; I
shall certainly do my