t."

"I hope so; and I trust you will prove your affection by your deeds."

"Bovver deeds!" remarked Penelope.

"What is that you said, my dear?"

"I say, bovver deeds!"

"I confess I do not understand. Run away, now, Penelope; I am busy."

"But you ought for to know. Nancy King has come."

"Who is Nancy King?"

"A girl. She's squatting up close to Renny on the lawn, and her arm is
twisted round Pauline's waist. She's big, and dressed awful grand. She
has gold bangles on her arms, and tinkling gold things round her neck,
and she's here, and I thought course you ought for to know. I thought so
'cos I love you. Aren't you pleased? Aren't I the sort of little girl you
could perhaps give a lollypop to?"

"No, you are not, Penelope. I do not wish you to tell tales of your
sisters. Go away, my dear; go away."

Penelope, in some wonder, and with a sense of disgust, not only with
Nancy King and Miss Tredgold, but also with herself, left the room.

"I won't tell her any more," she thought. "She never seems to like what I
do for her. She'd be pretty lonesome if it wasn't for me; but she don't
seem to care for anybody. I'll just rush away to nursey this very minute
and tell her how I love being a schoolroom girl. I'll tell her I dote on
my lessons, and that I never for the big, big, wide world would be a
nursery child again."

"Queer little child, Penelope," thought Miss Tredgold when her small
niece had left her.

She sat with her pen suspended, lost in thought.

"Very queer child," she soliloquized; "not the least like the others. I
can't say that I specially care for her. At present I am not in love with
any of my nieces; but of all of them, Penelope is the child I like the
least. She tells tales; she tries to curry favor with me. Is she
truthful? Is she sincere? I have a terrible fear within me that occasions
may arise when Penelope would prove deceitful. There! what am I saying? A
motherless child--my own niece--surely I ought to love her. Yes, I do
love her. I will try to love them all. What did she say about a girl
sitting on the lawn with my girls? It is nice to talk of the Dales as my
girls; it gives me a sort of family feeling, just as though I were not an
old maid. I wonder what friends my girls have made for themselves round
here. Nancy King. I don't know any people of the name of King who live
about here. If Henry were any one else he would probably be able to tell
me. I will go and see the girl for m