and the best literature classes, and the best concerts. I
am quite agreeable, for I am tired of living at The Follies."

"You ought to take Irene away for the holidays, and of course Miss Frost
will go with you," said Rosamund. "I wish I could stay. I would with a
heart and a half; but I know father and mother would be terribly put
out."

"I feel very despondent," said Lady Jane; "for although Irene is very
much improved, there is a lot of the old nature in her still; and when
you are gone, even the Singletons will be away, for they are going to
the seaside for the month of August--to Herne Bay, I believe. We shall
have no one at home, and Irene and I alone at the seaside would make a
terrible pair."

"I will write to mother. Something ought to be done," said Rosamund very
thoughtfully. "Leave it to me," she continued. "What I have been
thinking is this: that Irene ought to come with me to the Merrimans' for
one term."

"You mean that I am to part with her--that she is not to live with me?
Besides, would the Merrimans take a child with such a character?"

"She is quite a good character now, and it would be just the very thing.
It would be the making of her. Then, perhaps, afterwards we might go
together to a good foreign school and learn languages properly. I am
sure it would do her a lot of good. But I will think about the
holidays."

Rosamund felt rather old and worn. A very heavy burden had been laid on
her young shoulders. She, a girl of only fifteen years of age, was more
or less responsible for the entire life, the entire future, of a
brilliant little sprite like Irene Ashleigh.

The next day was Sunday, and it arose in great beauty and majesty. The
sun shone out of a cloudless sky, the flowers bloomed everywhere, the
birds sang, the heat was excessive, the gardens looked their best.
Visitors came and went. Irene, no longer in the objectionable red frock,
but now dressed as a pretty young girl of her age ought to be dressed,
walked by Rosamund's side and chatted about books, about music, about
all sorts of things, the existence of which she had scarcely known a few
weeks ago. Her intellect was of such a keen and brilliant order that she
grasped knowledge almost as easily as she imbibed her food. Rosamund
felt more and more proud of her.

"With such talent and such beauty, what might she not aspire to?"
thought the elder girl. The younger looked at her with a light in her
eyes.

"What are you thinking