ers.
Miss Anna Carroll and Ina held books in their laps, but they never
looked in them. They were all very well dressed and they wore quite a
number of fine jewels on their hands and at their necks, particularly
Mrs. Carroll. Her stones, though only of the semi-precious kind, were
very beautiful, amethysts which had belonged to a many-times-removed
creole grandmother of hers, and the workmanship of whose fine setting
dated back to France, and there was a tradition of royal ownership.
Mrs. Carroll had a bracelet, a ring, a brooch, and a necklace. The
stones, although deeply tinted, showed pink now instead of purple. In
fact, they seemed to match the soft, rose-tinted India silk which she
wore.

"Amy's amethysts match colors like chamellons," said Ina. "Look how
pink they are."

"Lovely," said Charlotte, gazing admiringly. "The next time I go to a
dance, you promised I should wear the necklace, Amy, dear."

"You will not go to a dance for a long time in Banbridge, sweet, I
fear," said Mrs. Carroll, with loving commiseration.

"Somebody will call soon, and we shall be asked to something," said
Charlotte, with conviction.

"Nobody has called yet," Ina said.

"We have only been here three weeks," said Miss Anna Carroll, who was
a beautiful woman, and, but for a certain stateliness of carriage,
might have seemed but little older than her elder niece.

"Somebody may be calling this afternoon," said Ina, "and the maid has
gone out, and we should not know they called."

"Oh, let them leave their cards," said Mrs. Carroll, easily. "That is
the only way to receive calls, and make them. If one could only know
when people would be out, but not have them know you knew,
always--that would be lovely--and if one only knew when they were
coming, so one could always be out--that would be lovelier still."
Mrs. Carroll had a disjointed way of speaking when she essayed a long
speech, that had almost an infantile effect.

"Amy, how very ungracious of you, dear," said Miss Anna Carroll. "You
know you always love people when you really do meet them."

"Oh yes," replied Amy, "I know I love them."

Meantime, Mrs. Lee and Mrs. Van Dorn were ringing the door-bell of
the Carroll house. They rang the bell and waited, and nobody came.

"Did you ring the bell?" asked Mrs. Van Dorn, anxiously.

"I thought I did. I pressed the button very hard."

"I didn't hear it. I think you had better ring again."

Mrs. Lee obediently pressed the be