ther occupants of the room dashed
forward to share in the view.

They jostled each other with the scant courtesy which brothers and
sisters are apt to show each other in early days; five big boys and
girls, ranging between the ages of eight and nineteen. Miles kept his
central position by reason of superior strength, a vigorous dig of his
pointed elbow being enough to keep trespassers at a distance. Betty
darted before him and nimbly dropped on her knees, the twins stood on
either side of the window-sill, while poor Pam grumbled and fretted in
the background, dodging here and there to try all positions in turn, and
finding each as unsatisfactory as the last.

The Square gardens looked grey and sodden with the desolation of autumn
in a city, and the road facing the window was empty, except for two
female figures--a lady, and a girl of sixteen, who were slowly
approaching the corner. The lady was dressed in black, the girl was
noticeably smart, in a pretty blue costume, with dainty boots on her
tiny feet, and a fur cap worn at the fashionable angle on her golden
head.

"That's a new dress,--the fifth I've seen her in this month!" sighed
Betty enviously. "Wearing it on an afternoon like this, too. The idea!
Serve her right if it were soaked through!"

"Look at her mincing over the puddles! She'd rather go a mile out of
her way than get a splash on those precious boots. I'm sure by the look
of them that they pinch her toes! I am glad you girls don't make
ninnies of yourselves by wearing such stupid things."

"Can't! Feet too big!" mumbled Jill, each cheek bulging in turn with
the lump of toffee which she was mechanically moving from side to side,
so as to lengthen the enjoyment as much as possible.

"Can't! Too poor! Only four shillings to last out till the end of the
quarter!" sighed Betty, dolorous again.

"Boots! Boots! What boots? Let me see her boots. It's mean! You
won't let me see a thing!" cried Pam, pushing her shaggy head round
Miles' elbow, and craning forward on the tip of her toes. "I say!
She's grander than ever to-day, isn't she?"

"Look at the umbrella! About as thick as a lead pencil!" scoffed Jill,
flattening her nose against the pane. "Aunt Amy had one like that when
she came to stay, and I opened it, because mother says it spoils them to
be left squeezed up, and she was as mad as a hatter. She twisted at it
a good ten minutes before she would take it out again. She'd never g