r. He has been such fun
lately. I really do think he is quite the nicest young man I know.'

'Do you know many young men, my dear?' was my apparently innocent remark;
but Jill was not deceived by this smooth speech.

'Of course I do,' in a scornful voice; 'they come to see Sara, and I
hate them so, flimsy stuck-up creatures, with their white ties and absurd
little moustaches. Each one is more stupid and vapid than the other. And
Sara must think so too; for she smiles on them all alike.'

'You are terribly hard on the young men of your generation, Jill; I
daresay I should think them very harmless and pleasant.' But she shook
her head vigorously.

'Why cannot they be natural, and say good-natured things, like Mr. Tudor?
He is real, and not make-believe, pretending that he is too bored to live
at all. One would think there was no truth anywhere, nothing but tinsel
and sham, to listen to them. That is why I like Mr. Tudor: he has the
ring of the true metal about him. Even Miss Darrell agrees with me
there.'

'Do you discuss Mr. Tudor with Miss Darrell?'

'Why not?' opening her eyes widely. 'I like to talk about my friends,
and I feel Mr. Tudor is a real friend. She was so interested,--really
interested, I mean, without any humbug,--at least, pretence,' for here I
held up my finger at Jill. 'She wanted to know if you liked him too, and
I said, "Oh yes, so much; he was a great favourite of yours," and she
seemed pleased to hear it.'

'You silly child! I wish you would leave me and my likes and dislikes out
of your conversations with Miss Darrell.'

'Well, do you know, I try to do so, because I know how you hate her,--at
least, dislike her: that is a more ladylike term,--you are so horribly
particular, Ursula; but somehow your name always gets in, and I never
know how, and there is no keeping you out. Sometimes she makes me
dreadfully angry about you, and sometimes she says nice things; but
there, we will not talk about the double-faced lady to-night. I
understand her less than ever.'

We glided into more serious subjects after this. I made Jill promise to
be more patient with her life, and work from a greater sense of duty, and
I begged her most earnestly to fight against discontent, and exorcise
this youthful demon of hers, and again she promised to do her best.

'I feel better about things, somehow: you have done me good, Ursie; you
always do. I must make mother understand that I am nearly a woman, and
that I do