to see Madge in the summer, though I
haven't forgiven her for leaving me alone that afternoon. Oh, and I
must tell you--" And the conversation branched off in another direction,
while the girls crouched over the fire, laughing and talking in happy
reunion.

Alas! the next day the clouds gathered over the family horizon and
culminated in such a storm as was happily of rare occurrence. The
moment that she left her bedroom Hilary began to grumble, and she
grumbled steadily the whole day long. Everything that Lettice had done
during her absence was wrong; the servants were careless and
inefficient; the drawing-room--Norah's special charge--looked as if no
one had touched it for a fortnight; the house was dingy and badly
lighted, and each arrangement worse than the last. Lettice hated
quarrelling so much that she was prepared to bear a good deal before
getting angry, but quick-tempered Norah exploded into a burst of
irritation before the afternoon was half over.

"The fact is you have been staying for a fortnight in a grand London
house, and you are spoiled for your own home. I think it is mean to
come back, after having such a lovely time, and make everyone miserable
with your grumbling and fault-findings! Lettice did everything she
could while you were away, and the house is the same as when you left
it."

"Perhaps it is, but I didn't know any better then. I know now how
things ought to be done, and I can't be satisfied when they are wrong."

"And do you expect things to be managed as well in this house with five
of us at home, besides father and Miss Briggs, and three servants to do
all the work, as it is at Miss Carr's, with no one but herself, and six
or seven people to wait upon her?" Lettice spoke quietly, but with a
flush on her cheeks which proved that she felt more than she showed.
"It's very foolish if you do, for you will only succeed in upsetting
everyone, and making the whole house miserable and uncomfortable."

"As you have done to-day!" added Norah bluntly. "I would rather have an
old-fashioned house than the finest palace in the world with a cross,
bad-tempered mistress going about grumbling from morning till night."

"Norah, you are very rude to speak to me like that! You have no right.
I am the eldest."

"You had no right to say to me that I haven't touched the drawing-room
for a fortnight."

"I have a right to complain if the work of the house is not properly
done. Father has given me