nges his mind every
other day. But they made up that quarrel ages ago, and he was over
there shooting in September and squiring her all over the county. You
should not tell tales out of school, Pixie!"

"Was it me? I thought it was yourself. You began saying that they were
such friends, and I thought maybe it would amuse Sylvia to hear--"

"So it does, Pixie. It amuses me extremely," assented Sylvia with an
intentional emphasis, which made Esmeralda wince once more, for, however
innocent the little sister might be, she felt convinced that Sylvia
Trevor thoroughly understood her implied warning, and was by no means
docile in her manner of receiving it. She sat up stiff and erect,
smiling into space with an expression of scornful superiority which
filled the beholder with unwilling admiration. In just such a spirit
would she herself have accepted interference from the lips of a
stranger. She recognised a kindred spirit, and realised that, putting
Jack out of the question, Miss Sylvia Trevor would be a friend after her
own heart.

The repeated invitation had in it a note of sincerity which had been
wanting in the earlier rendering, but Sylvia only murmured, "Thank you!"
in a politely non-committal manner, and shrank back so decidedly from
the proffered kiss that there was no choice but to substitute a formal
handshake in its stead.

The sisters drove off together to the station, and Sylvia was left alone
to relieve pent-up irritation by making one impetuous resolve after
another, to replace each the following moment by one diametrically
different.

"Thank goodness, she has gone at last! I can't think how I ever could
have liked her! I think I dislike her more than anyone I ever met. How
dare she interfere with me! How dare she imply that I want to
monopolise her precious brother! I shall never speak to him again as
long as I live! I shall go home to-morrow, and take good care that I
never come across when he is likely to be at home. Perhaps she has
warned him too, as if he were not conceited enough already! He is worth
a dozen of her all the same, and is far nicer than I thought at first.
It's perfectly absurd to think a man and a girl cannot be in the same
house for a week without falling in love with each other. I won't
condescend to take the faintest notice of her insinuations. I shall be
as nice as I like, and give up snubbing him from this minute. He can be
engaged to fifty Mollie Burrells if