ad of less and less. When Miles comes home there will be
nothing left to wish for in all the world!" And now in an hour,--in
half an hour, Miles would be with her once more! Dr Trevor and Jack
had gone to the station to meet him, but his mother and the girls had
preferred to wait at home. "So that you can all howl, and hang round
his neck at once--I know you!" Jack had cried teasingly. "Take my
advice, and cut short the huggings. When fellows have roughed it
abroad, they don't like being mauled!"--at which a chorus of feminine
indignation had buzzed about his ears.

"Mauled, indeed! Howl, indeed! They trusted they knew how to behave
without his advice! Would it not be well if he allowed Miles himself to
say what he did and did not like? Had he not better rehearse his own
conduct, before troubling himself about other people's?" So on, and so
on, until Jack fled in dismay, fingers in ears. That was the worst of
chaffing girls--they would always insist upon having the last word!

Downstairs in the sitting-rooms all was _en fete_, the best mats and
covers and cushions being exhibited for the benefit of one who would
probably never notice their existence, or might even be misguided enough
to imagine that chiffon-draped cushions were meant for use, not
ornament. Flowers were tastefully arrayed in every available position;
the tea-table lacked only the presence of pot and kettle; Jill had
arranged the little curl on her forehead at its most artless and
captivating angle--in a word, preparation was complete!

"Sit down, dears--sit down! You make me nervous fidgeting about, and--
I'm nervous enough already!" said Mrs Trevor tremulously, and her three
big daughters obediently sank down on chairs and stared at each other
across the room.

"I'm very sorry to say so--but I'm _ill_!" cried Betty tragically. "I
feel awful. A kind of crawly, creepy--all--overish--sick-swimming-kind-
of-feeling--I think I'm going to faint! I'm sorry to alarm you--"

But no one was in the least alarmed. Mrs Trevor only smiled feebly,
while the other girls expatiated upon even more alarming symptoms.

"My heart is going like a sledge-hammer," sighed Jill. "I feel every
moment as if it might _burst_!--I can't see you. The air is full of
spots--"

"I'm as dizzy as dizzy," declared Pam eloquently. "I feel exactly as I
did that Wednesday Nellie and I ate chocolates all the afternoon in a
hot room. If he doesn't come soon we'd bet