me a shock: it was so infantile in
comparison with her talk in the train.

"Does daddy live there? And is he so very old, then?"

Then Nurse Branscome bethought her that this mite had never yet seen
her father, and that he was not only an aged man but a broken-down
one, and in appearance (as they say) older than his years.
A great pity seized her for Corona, and in the rush of pity all her
oddities and grown-up tricks of speech (Americanisms apart) explained
themselves. She was an old father's child. Nurse Branscome was
midwife enough to know what freakishness and frailty belong to
children begotten by old age. Yet Corona, albeit gaunt with growing,
was lithe and well-formed, and of a healthy complexion and a clear,
though it inclined to pallor.

"Your father is not a young man," she said gently. "You must be
prepared for that, dear. . . . And of course his dress--the dress of
the Beauchamp Brethren--makes him look even older than he is."

"What is it?" asked Corona, turning about as well as she could on the
stile and putting the direct question with direct eyes.

"It's a long gown, a gown of reddish-purple, with a silver rose at
the breast."

"Save us!" exclaimed this unaccountable child. "'Seems I'd better
start right in by asking what news of the Crusades."

In the spare room pertaining to Brother Bonaday he and Brother Copas
were (as the latter put it) making very bad weather with their
preparations. They supposed themselves, however, to have plenty of
time, little guessing that the captain of the _Carnatic_ had been
breaking records. In St. Hospital one soon learns to neglect
mankind's infatuation for mere speed; and yet, strange to say,
Brother Copas was discoursing on this very subject.

He had produced certain purchases from his wallet, and disposed them
on the chest of drawers which was to serve Corona for dressing-table.
They included a cheap mirror, and here he felt himself on safe
ground; but certain others--such as a gaudily-dressed doll, priced at
1s. 3d., a packet of hairpins, a book of coloured photographs,
entitled _Souvenir of Royal Merchester_--he eyed more dubiously.
He had found it hard to bear in mind the child's exact age.
"But she was born in Coronation Year. I have told you that over and
over," Brother Bonaday would protest. "My dear fellow, I know you
have; but the devil is, that means something different every time."

--"The purpose of all right motion," Brother Copas wa