s, it is none of
her business.'

I thought it prudent to remain silent, so she wrinkled her brows and
looked perplexed.

'Gladys--let me see what Gladys does: well, she used to teach in the
schools, but she does not teach now; she says the infants make her
head ache; that is why she has dropped the Sunday-school. Now Etta
has her class. Then there was the mothers' meeting; well, I never
knew why she gave that up,--I wonder if she knows herself,--but Etta
has got it. And she has left off singing at the penny readings and
village entertainments; Etta would have replaced her there, only she has
no voice. I think she works a little for the poor people at the East End
of London, but she does it in her own room, because Etta laughs at her
and calls her 'Madam Charity.' Gladys hates that. She takes long walks,
and sketches a little, and reads a good deal; and--there, that is all I
know of her majesty's doings.'

Poor Miss Hamilton! it certainly did not sound much of a life.

'And about yourself, Lady Betty?'

'Oh, Lady Betty is here, there, and everywhere,' mimicking me in a droll
way. 'Lady Betty walks a little, talks a little, plays a little, and
dances when she gets a chance. At present, lawn-tennis is a great object
in her life; last winter, swimming in Brill's bath and riding from Hove
to Kemp Town or across the Brighton Downs were her hobbies. In the summer
a gardening craze seized her, and just now she is in an idle mood. What
does it matter? a short life and a merry one,--eh, Miss Garston?'

I would not expostulate with this civilised little heathen, for she was
evidently bent on provoking a lecture, and I determined to disappoint
her. We had sat so long over our tea that the room was quite dark, and I
rose to kindle the lamp. Lady Betty, as usual, was anxious to assist me,
and went to the window to lower the blind. The next moment I heard an
exclamation of annoyance, and as she came back to the table her little
brown face was all aglow with some suppressed irritation.

'What is the matter, Lady Betty?' I asked, in some surprise.

'It is that provoking Etta again,' she began. 'She has guessed where I
am, and has sent for me, the meddlesome old--' But here a tap at our room
door stopped her outburst.

As Lady Betty made no response, I said, 'Come in,' and immediately a
respectable-looking woman appeared in the doorway.

She looked like a superior lady's-maid, and had a plain face much marked
by the smallpox,