a
vigorous remonstrance, but the words, when they came, were not in the
least what she had expected.

"Thread!" echoed the pretty lady shrilly. "But how stupid! Elastic is
far better. It jerks ever so much bet--" She stopped suddenly with a
gasp of recollection, and continued in a stiff, mincing voice, "It is
very unwise to play practical jokes. One can never tell what the
consequence may be."

Jill laughed gaily, being much too sharp to be put off with so
transparent a pretence. She drew a step nearer to the pretty lady, and
looked up in her face with twinkling eyes.

"Oh, it's no use pretending! You weren't shocked a bit! I believe"--
she gave a little gasp at the audacity of the idea, but her courage did
not fail--"I believe you have even--done it yourself. However did you
manage to think of elastic? It's a lovely idea!"

The pretty lady wrinkled her brows in a funny, apologetic fashion.

"It doesn't follow because I did a thing that it is not foolish and
rash. I am afraid I was known for my foolish tricks. I was one of a
big family--such a lot of sisters that people used to call us `the
houseful of girls,' and I was the most mischievous of all. I don't want
to preach to you--it wouldn't be fair, would it, when I have done far
sillier things myself?--but next time you try the parcel trick, get it
out of the way when old people come along. Don't let them run the risk
of a fall, like this poor old gentleman, or even have the trouble of
stooping for nothing. Try to remember, won't you? And,"--eyes and
teeth flashed in an irresistible smile,--"_try the elastic_!"

Jill's merry trill rang out again, and the pretty lady looked at her
with smiling approval. The girl's natural attractiveness was as
conspicuous as ever, despite the disadvantageous circumstances, and it
would have been a cold heart that did not warm towards her, as she stood
with hands thrust deep into her pockets, fresh, wholesome, and bonnie,
like a bit of summer in the midst of the grey London gloom.

The pretty lady had heard high praise of the skill of the new doctor who
had come to live in the Square, and also of the personal character of
himself and his wife, but at this moment it is to be feared that she
felt little interested in them as individuals, but regarded them solely
as the parents of their daughter.

"It is getting rather dusk for you to be out alone. I will walk with
you to the corner. You are one of the doctor's d