en summoned to give advice, but being a good-natured
soul, smiled assent, and deftly shifted the conversation to the
consideration of details.

"Well, dear, I only trust you may be rewarded. Miss Cornelia is
fortunate to have such a home waiting to receive her. What room do you
propose to dedicate to her use?"

Miss Briskett's face clouded, and she drew a long, despairing sigh.

"That's another thing I am troubled about. I had the best spare room
done up only this spring. The carpet had faded, and when I was renewing
it I took the opportunity to have in the painters and paperhangers. It
is _all_ fresh, even the curtains and bed-hangings. They have not once
been used."

Mrs Ramsden purred in sympathetic understanding.

"Poor dear! When one has just made a room all fresh and clean, it is
_most_ trying to have it taken into use! But why give her that room at
all, dear? You have several others. A young, unmarried girl should be
satisfied with a room at the back, or even on the third storey. You
have a nice little guest room over your own bedroom, have you not?"

"No!" Miss Briskett again manifested a noble determination to do her
duty. "I should like Edward to feel, when he comes over, that I have
paid his daughter all due honour. She must have the spare room, and if
she spills things over the new carpet, I must pray for grace to bear it.
She has been accustomed to a very luxurious style of living for the
last few years, and I daresay even my best room will not be as handsome
as her own apartment. In the present state of Edward's finances, she
is, I suppose, a very great heiress."

Little Mrs Ramsden stared into her cup with a kindly thoughtfulness.

"I should keep that fact secret, if I were you," she said earnestly.
"Poor lassie! it's always a handicap to a girl to be received for what
she has, rather than what she is. And there are two or three idle,
worthless young men hanging about, who might be only too glad to pick up
a rich wife. I should simply announce that I was expecting a niece from
the United States of America, to pay me a visit of some months'
duration, and offer no enlightenment as to her circumstances. You will
have enough responsibility as it is, without embarrassing
entanglements."

"Yes, indeed. Thank you so much. I feel sure that your advice is wise,
and I shall certainly follow it. There's that soldier nephew of Mrs
Mott's, who is constantly running down on short visits.