nie
was sternly silent, on the watch; Chatty sympathetically on the alert,
too, though she scarcely knew why, because her sister was; Mrs. Warrender
listening with a faint smile to Geoff's little chatter, occasionally
casting a glance at the other end of the table, which she could see but
imperfectly. Lady Markland spoke low, addressing Theo only, so that
Geoff, as before, held the chief place. He was never weary of going over
the adventures of the day.

"It is that tall house before you come to the village,--a tall, tall
house, with a wall all round, as if to keep prisoners in. I know there
are no prisoners now. Of course not! There are people all about in the
fields and everywhere, who would soon tell the policeman and set you
free. I was not afraid. Still, if the gates had been shut, and they
refused to open, I don't know what one would do. The lady was like a
picture in the Pilgrim's Progress,--that one, you know--I thought her
pretty at first. But then she held me in her arm as if I had been a
baby."

"Oh, it would be Those People!" said Minnie, moved to a passing
exclamation of horror.

"Never mind that now. You must not venture out again without the groom,
for it makes your mother unhappy--Theo," said Mrs. Warrender, with a
smile and a sigh, "when he was a little fellow like you, never did
anything to make me unhappy."

"Didn't he?" said Geoff seriously. "But I didn't know. How could I tell
pony would so soon get hungry? He hasn't a regular dinner-time, as we
have; only munches and munches all day. But I was telling you about the
tall house."

"You must tell me another time, Geoff. Theo must bring you back with him
sometimes for a holiday."

"Yes," said Geoff, "that would do better. Pony would go splendid by the
side of Theo's big black. I shall come often--when I do my lessons well.
I have never done any lessons except with mamma. Does Theo like teaching
boys?"

"I don't know, my dear. I don't think he has ever tried."

"Then why is he coming to teach me? That, at the very bottom of it, you
know, is what I wanted him to tell me; for he would not tell straight
out, the real truth, before mamma."

"I hope he always tells the real truth," said Mrs. Warrender gently. "I
suppose, my little Geoff, it is because he is fond of you."

Upon this Geoff shook his little head for a long time, twisting his face
and blinking his keen little eyes. "He is not fond of me--oh no, it is
not that. I can do with Theo ve