his black face, and begging him to
forget the insult he had received from that horrid Barton dog.

'Poor old Tinker is not horrid at all, I assure you,' I said, laughing;
'he is a dear fellow, and I am already very fond of him.'

'But he nearly killed Nap,' she returned, with a little frown; 'he is
worse than a savage, for he has no notion of hospitality. Nap and I came
to call,' rising with an air of great dignity. 'I suppose you are Miss
Garston. I am Lady Betty.'

I had never heard of such a person in Heathfield; but of course Uncle Max
would enlighten me. As I looked at her more closely I saw my mistake in
thinking she was a child; little brown thing as she was, she was fully
grown up, and, though not in the least pretty, had a bright piquant face,
a _nest retrousse_, and a pair of mischievous eyes.

She was dressed rather extravagantly in a brown velvet walking-dress,
with an absurd little hat, that would have fitted a child, on the top of
her dark wavy hair; she only wanted a touch of red about her to look like
a magnified robin-redbreast.

'Well,' she said impatiently, as I hesitated a moment in my surprise,
'I have told you we have come for a call, Nap and I; but if you are going
out--'

'Oh, that is not the least consequence,' I returned, waking up to a sense
of my duty. 'I am very pleased to see you and Nap; but you must not stop
any longer in this cold porch; the wind is rather cutting. There is a
nice fire in my parlour.' And I led the way in.

I was rather puzzled about Nap, for I seemed to recognise his sleek head
and mild brown eyes; and yet where could I have seen him? He trotted in
contentedly after his mistress, and stretched himself out on the rug
Tinker's fashion; but Lady Betty, instead of seating herself, began to
walk round the room and inspect my books and china, making remarks upon
everything in a brisk voice, and questioning me in rather an inquisitive
manner about sundry things that attracted her notice; but, to my great
surprise and relief, she passed Charlie's picture without remark or
comment--only I saw her glancing at it now and then from under her long
lashes. This mystified me a little; but I thought her whole behaviour a
little peculiar. I had never before seen callers on their first visit
perambulating the room like polar bears, or throwing out curious feelers
everywhere. As a rule, they sat up stiffly enough and discussed the
weather.

Lady Betty was evidently a character;