at Kitty and
Father would trot off somewhere and leave me free at Ballyconal to
hibernate in some neglected corner, while the place was glorified into a
stately British home for an American millionairess. Then (I had gone on
dimly planning) they would return in state, and Kitty would be duly
honoured by a picturesque welcome from the hastily cleaned up tenants.
After that, nobody would take much notice of little Peggy. I should be
tacitly permitted to play among my books, and the peasants I loved the
best, for whose sake I had been trying to learn the art of nursing.

Father's way of telling his news, however, showed me the truth about
myself. I didn't feel in the least related to him; and I decided to use
the month before their return from the wedding journey in finding some
other way of spending my life. I couldn't make a "crowd" in that
"company" of two!

I was nice to Father and charming to Kitty, and all the time I was
polishing my brain as if it were the genie's lamp, and summoning the
genie to bring me inspiration. I couldn't be a governess on the strength
of languages alone. Not knowing the multiplication table, having to do
hasty sums on my fingers, and being ignorant of principal rivers,
boundaries, and all dates except that of Waterloo, was too big a
handicap; and in sheer poverty of invention I seemed to be driven back
to Billiken, that god of "things as they ought to be." Perhaps it was
fate that I had been invited by Mrs. Dalziel to a "boy and girl" theatre
party the very night when I had to congratulate Father, and wish wishes
for Kitty which short of a miracle couldn't come true.

It was only two days after Di's wedding, but already that event seemed
long ago. No news had come from Eagle, and he was referred to in London
newspapers as "the modest stranger" who had disappeared after saving the
lives of the bride and bridegroom, "leaving no trace except a little
blood shed in their service." The dinner at the Savoy and the boy and
girl party at the theatre afterward were given, no doubt, more in honour
of "Milly's count" (who was starting for Petrograd next morning) than
for me; but I was made to feel myself a guest of importance; and at the
St. James I had Tony next to me. There had been no chance to pour out my
news at dinner, but now it came and I seized it instantly. Tony was
always nice and sympathetic to tell things to! He actually listened and
seemed interested, which I've noticed that few people