gan to chide her, rather irritably. "You little fool, do you want
to catch a chill as well--so's to make two invalids instead of one?
Here, put on my jacket."

"Oh, no, Mr. Dale."

"Do as I tell you. Besides, it--well, it isn't seemly to be running
about half naked."

Norah flushed red in the candle-light, and clutched at her
night-dress. Then she hastily put on Dale's jacket, which swamped her,
going far down below her hips and making her seem a wonderfully
strange figure.

Next morning, when she was bringing him his breakfast, he talked to
her of what had "passed a few hours ago."

"Norah, my dear, I'm sorry I spoke sharply to you--just when you were
doing all that you possibly could for us. But, you know, I didn't mean
it a bit unkind."

"Oh, no, sir," said Norah, shyly.

It's only that I'm always a stickler for etiquette--and that sort of
thing. I do so like what I call seemly conduct."

"Yes, sir. I was ashamed the moment you spoke;" and Norah blushed
again. "But truly I hadn't thought, sir. If I'd given it a thought,
I'd never have done it."

"No, you didn't think. And there's nothing on earth for you to be
ashamed of. Far be it from me to put thoughts into your innocent
little noddle which needn't come there yet a while. You'll
understand--and it'll just be instinct to you then--that what's right
for children is a bit odd and startling for those who're older. Now
don't think any more about it."

"I don't want to, sir--if you say so;" and Norah smiled comfortably
once more.

She made and laid his early breakfast for him every morning until
Mavis was well enough to come down to do it herself, and Dale had
never been better waited on or seen a daintier way of arranging a
table. She always gave him a napkin, which was an unusual luxury, and
she folded it in fantastic shapes; moreover, undeterred by the notions
of economy or caution natural in a proprietor, she brought out pieces
of the bettermost china that were rarely used by Mavis; she set one of
the smallest and very best afternoon tea-cloths in such a manner that
it looked like a diamond instead of a square, and on this, as central
decoration, she placed a blue bowl full of flowers. Then, too, she had
requisitioned the silver-plated cake basket for the newly-baked
bannocks. The silver basket gave a touch of splendor that really made
the table seem as if its proper situation was a grand London
restaurant or a nobleman's mansion.

"You want to spo