ic efforts of the butler when
he raised an enormous silver dish-cover, and the curiously frugal and
unappetizing nature of the viand it disclosed. The wizened face of the
lap-dog, too, peering over the table's edge, out of Miss Smeardon's
lap, might have acquired its distrustful expression, Robinette
thought, from habitual doubts as to whether enough to eat would ever
be his good fortune. The meal ended with the ceremonious presentation
to each lady in turn, of three wrinkled apples and two crooked bananas
in a probably priceless dish of Crown Derby. Then the procession
re-formed and returned to the drawing room.

"And the evening and the morning were the first day!" sighed Robinette
to herself in the chilly solitude of her own room. How often could she
endure the repetition?

V

AT WITTISHAM

"May I have a fire to dress by, Benson?" Robinette asked rather
timidly that night, her head just peeping above the blankets.

"_Fire_?" returned Benson, in italics, with an interrogation point.

Robinette longed to spell the word and ask Benson if it had ever come
to her notice before, but she stifled her desire and said, "I am quite
ashamed, Benson, but you see I am not used to the climate yet. If
you'll pamper me just a little at the beginning, I shall behave better
presently."

"I will give orders for a fire night and morning, certainly, ma'am,"
said Benson. "I did not offer it because our ladies never have one in
their bedrooms at this time of the year. Mrs. de Tracy is very strong
and active for her age."

"It's my opinion she's a w'eedler," remarked Benson at the housekeeper's
luncheon table. "She asks for what she wants like a child. She has a
pretty way with her, I can't deny that, but is she a w'eedler?"

Wheedler or not, Robinette got her fire to dress by, and so was able
to come down in the morning feeling tolerably warm. It was well that
she was, for the cold tea and tough toast of the de Tracy breakfast
had little in them to warm the heart. Conversation languished during
the meal, and after a walk to the stables Robinette was thankful to
return to her own room again on the pretext of writing letters. There
she piled up the fire, drew her chair close up to the hearth, and
employed herself until noon, when she took her embroidery and joined
her aunt in the drawing room. Luncheon was announced at half past one,
and immediately after it Mrs. de Tracy and Miss Smeardon went to their
respective bedrooms