ther girls and the way they live. But I have been very happy
here, Aunt Katherine, and since I have known Mrs. Harold and Polly a
good many things have been made pleasanter for me. I can never repay
them for their kindness to me."

Peggy paused and a wonderfully sweet light filled her eyes, for her love
for her absent friends was very true and deep, and speaking of them
seemed to bring them back to the familiar surroundings which she knew
they had grown to love so well, and where she and Polly had passed so
many happy hours.

Mrs. Stewart was not noted for her capacity for deep feeling and was
more amused than otherwise affected by Peggy's earnest speech,
classifying it as "a girl's sentimentality." Finer qualities were wasted
upon that lady. So she now smiled indulgently and said:

"Of course I can understand your appreciation of what you consider Mrs.
Harold's and her niece's kindness to you, but, have you ever looked upon
the other side of the question? Have you not done a great deal for them?
It seems to me you have quite cancelled any obligation to them. It must
have been some advantage to them to have such a lovely place as this to
visit at will, and, if I can draw deductions correctly, to practically
have the run of. It seems to me there was considerable advantage upon
_their_ side of the arrangement. You, naturally, can not see this, but
I'll venture to say Mrs. Harold was not so unsophisticated," and a pat
upon Peggy's hand playfully emphasized the lady's charitable view.

Peggy felt bewildered and her hands fell from the arm of the chair to
her lap, though her big soft eyes never changed their gaze, which proved
somewhat disconcerting to the older woman who had the grace to color
slightly. Peggy then rallied her forces and answered:

"Aunt Katherine, I am sure neither Mrs. Harold nor Polly ever had the
faintest idea of any advantage to themselves in being nice to me. Why in
this world should they? They have ten times more than _I_ could ever
give to them. Why think of how extensively Mrs. Harold has traveled and
what hosts of friends she has! And Polly too. Goodness, they let me see
and enjoy a hundred things I never could have seen or enjoyed
otherwise."

Mrs. Stewart laughed a low, incredulous laugh, then queried:

"And you the daughter of Neil Stewart and a little Navy girl? Really,
Peggy, you are deliciously _ingenue_. Well, never mind. It is of more
intimate matters I wish to speak, for with each p