rass,' as she calls it, where 'yous can take your tay' under
the Japanese umbrella left by the last tenant. Think how unusual it will
be for us to live in three different houses for a week; and 'there's
luck in odd numbers, says Rory O'More.' We shall have the advantages of
good society, too, when we are living apart, for I foresee entertainment
after entertainment. We will give breakfasts, luncheons, teas, and
dinners to one another; and meanwhile I shall have learned all the
housewifely arts. Think, too, how much better you can paint with me out
of your way!"

"Does no thought of your eccentricity blight your young spirit, dear?"

"Why should it when I have simply shaped my course by yours?"

"But I am married, my child."

"And I'm 'going to be married, aha, Mamma!' as the song says; and what
about Salemina, you haven't scolded her?"

"She is living her very last days of single blessedness," I rejoined;
"she does not know it, but she is; and I want to give her all the
freedom possible. Very well, dear innocent, live in your wee hut, then,
if you can persuade Benella to stay with you; but I think there would
best be no public visiting between you and those who live in Rosaleen
Cottage and the Old Hall, as it might ruin their social position."

Benella confessed that she had not the heart to refuse Francesca
anything. "She's too handsome," she said, "and too winnin'. I s'pose
she'll cook up some dreadful messes, but I'm willin' to eat 'em, to
oblige her, and perhaps it'll save her husband a few spells of dyspepsy
at the start; though, as far as my experience goes, ministers'll always
eat anything that's set before 'em, and look over their shoulders for
more."

We had a heavenly week of silliness, and by dint of concealing our real
relations from the general public, I fancy we escaped harsh criticism.
There is a very large percentage of lunacy anyway in Ireland, as well
as great leniency of public opinion, and I fancy there is scarcely a
country on the map in which one could be more foolish without being
found out. Visit each other we did constantly, and candour obliges me to
state that, though each of us secretly prided herself on the perfection
of her cuisine, Miss Monroe gave the most successful afternoon tea of
all, on the 'wee grass,' under the Japanese umbrella. How unexpectedly
good were her scones, her tea-cakes, and her cress sandwiches, and how
pretty and graceful and womanly she was, all flushed with pr