not like her not to be well fitted out,' said
her mother; 'and Honora Charlecote always has such handsome things. I
wish Boodle could put mine on like hers.'

'Oh, very well!' said Juliana, rather offended; 'only it should be
understood what is to be done if the Charterises ask her to any of their
parties. There will be such mistakes and confusion if she meets any one
we know; and you particularly objected to having her brought forward.'

Phoebe's eye was a little startled, and Bertha set her front teeth
together on edge, and looked viciously at Juliana.

'My dear, Honora Charlecote never goes out,' said Mrs. Fulmort.

'If she should, you understand, Phoebe,' said Juliana.

Coffee came in at the moment, and Augusta criticized the strength of it,
which made a diversion, during which Bertha slipped out of the room, with
a face replete with mischievous exultation.

'Are not you going to play to-night, my dears?' asked Mrs. Fulmort.
'What was that duet I heard you practising?'

'Come, Juliana,' said the elder sister, 'I meant to go over it again; I
am not satisfied with my part.'

'I have to write a note,' said Juliana, moving off to another table;
whereupon Phoebe ventured to propose herself as a substitute, and was
accepted.

Maria sat entranced, with her mouth open; and presently Mrs. Fulmort
looked up from a kind of doze to ask who was playing. For some moments
she had no answer. Maria was too much awed for speech in the
drawing-room; and though Bertha had come back, she had her back to her
mother, and did not hear. Mrs. Fulmort exerted herself to sit up and
turn her head.

'Was that Phoebe?' she said. 'You have a clear, good touch, my dear, as
they used to say I had when I was at school at Bath. Play another of
your pieces, my dear.'

'I am ready now, Augusta,' said Juliana, advancing.

Little girls were not allowed at the piano when officers might be coming
in from the dining-room, so Maria's face became vacant again, for
Juliana's music awoke no echoes within her.

Phoebe beckoned her to a remote ottoman, a receptacle for the newspapers
of the week, and kept her turning over the _Illustrated News_, an
unfailing resource with her, but powerless to occupy Bertha after the
first Saturday; and Bertha, turning a deaf ear to the assurance that
there was something very entertaining about a tiger-hunt, stood, solely
occupied by eyeing Juliana.

Was she studying 'come-out' life as she watched her siste