had not its inmates carried off
public attention before it had time to settle on the vehicle.

The eldest, a woman of thirty-two or three, elegantly dressed and
generally recognized, seemed to be the mistress, for it was her gloved
hand which gave the signal for moving, and the coachman always looked to
her for directions.

A slight gesture indicated home, the moment she saw her equipage free
from the crowd, but the lovely young creature on the front seat uttered
a merry protest and gave a laughing counter-order, threatening the elder
lady with her half-closed parasol, till the point lace which covered it
fluttered like the fringed leaves of a great white-hearted poppy.

"Only a short drive," she said; "you can't want to go into the house,
dear Mrs. Harrington, such a heavenly day as this."

"But, my love, I have forty things to do!"

"All the more reason why you should neglect every one of them, since it
is not possible for you to do them all," replied the young girl, with a
laugh and a pretty wilful air that few people could have resisted.
"Elizabeth, are you tired?"

The young lady whom she addressed had been leaning back in her seat by
Mrs. Harrington, quite regardless of this laughing contention, looking
straight before her in a smiling, dreamy way, which proved that the
brightness of the scene and the spell of the music had wiled her into
some deep and pleasant train of thought.

Her friend spoke twice before she heard, laughing gayly at her
abstraction, and Mrs. Harrington added--

"Do come out of dreamland, dear Miss Fuller; I am sure I cannot manage
this wilful little thing without your help."

The young girl shook her parasol again in a pretty, threatening way as
she said--

"You are not tired, Elizabeth?"

"Tired! Oh no; it is very pleasant," she replied, in a voice that was
low and musical with the sweetness of her broken reverie.

"See, you are in the minority, Mrs. Harrington," cried Elsie Mellen.
"You had better submit with a good grace."

"Oh, I knew Elizabeth dared not side against you; she spoils you worse
than anybody, even your brother."

"But it's so nice to be spoiled," said Elsie, gayly; "and you must help
in it, or I shall do something dreadful to you just here before
everybody's eyes."

She clenched her hand playfully, as if to carry her threat into instant
execution, and Mrs. Harrington cried out--

"I promise! I promise! James, take another turn."

The man turned his hor