gether and gave it to me for a
wedding present. It feels a little bit as if they were here, to look up
from my work and see their faces. That's the eldest--Maud; my Maud!
She and I were always together. She is married, and has a dear little
girl. That's Lilias, the next eldest--the beauty of the family."

"Ah!" sighed Betty enviously, "she _is_ pretty. How lovely to be like
that! Is she married too?"

"No."

"Engaged?"

"No."

"How funny! I should have thought she would have been married the first
of all. Didn't everyone fall in love with her at first sight?"

"Yes, I think they did, but at second sight they seem to have preferred
Maud and--me?"

Mrs Vanburgh did not seem disposed to discuss her sister's love
affairs. She pointed to the next portrait, that of a dark, interesting-
looking girl with hair parted down the middle and smoothed plainly down,
in marked contrast to her sister's curls and pompadours.

"That's Elsie! She has views, and objects to being like the common
herd. She writes articles _for_ papers, not _in_ them, abusing
everything that is, and praising up everything that isn't. Gervase, my
husband, says she will do very well when she learns sense. She is a
dear old raven, and I miss her croak more than you would believe.
That's Agatha. She's just--Agatha! A good-natured dear, always
terribly in earnest about the smallest thing. Christabel is the baby,
which means the head of the family. She is coming out next year, and
means to outshine us all. I will tell you lots of stories about the
girls and the jolly times we had at home, and soon I hope you will meet
some of them here. Sisters are such comforts, aren't they?"

Betty mumbled an inarticulate something which might have been an assent
or the reverse, and a servant entering with a tea-tray, the conversation
turned to less personal topics. There was never any lack of anything to
say, however, for, strangers as they were, the two girls chattered away
without a break until the clock struck six, at which sound Betty leapt
from her seat like another Cinderella, and turned hastily towards the
door.

"Six! Oh, and I had Pam's music-lesson at half-past five! How awful of
me to forget! You were so interesting, and I was enjoying myself so
much. I must fly!"

"It's no use, I'm afraid. You can't put the clock back. There's one
comfort--Pam will forgive you! That's the little one, I suppose, with
the kitten face. I must ge