oughened hands, then at the hopeless
disorder by which she was surrounded.

"I used to dream," she said slowly--"I used to dream of coming up to
London. Father seemed so often on the eve of doing something great, and
I used to imagine what it would be like if the book really turned out as
he expected, or the picture made his name famous. He would have brought
us to town, and we should have been rich, and every one would have
wanted to know us--"

"I know! So have I. `Beautiful Miss Charringtons--the rage of the
London season.' That's the kind of thing, isn't it? I'm not beautiful,
of course, but I'm vivacious--that's my point. I can _espiegle_ fifty
times better than Hope, though she is such a darling. You are very
handsome, Phil, when you look pleasant; and Theo has the air of a
princess in disguise. We are an interesting family. It seems hard
lines that the world should not know us. We do seem slightly--just a
little--what you might call _cornered_ up here."

"We do indeed. Oh, it is different--so different from what I expected!"
faltered poor, tired Philippa, with a sob; and then of a sudden her
fears and dreads caught her in a grip from which there was no escape.
She looked round the strange, unlovely room, through the bare window at
the great city, lurid and threatening in the light of many lamps, and
trembled at the thought of what she had done. She had been as a mother
to these children, and she had brought them away from their peaceful
home to face a thousand trials, a thousand difficulties: Stephen,
constitutionally despondent, to be burdened with fresh responsibilities;
the girls, ardent and credulous, to be ready prey for unscrupulous
acquaintances; Barney, pining for mischief, to a swift and certain ruin!
Her face blanched; she held out her hands to her sister with a gesture
of terrified appeal.

"Madge, Madge, I'm frightened! Suppose it is all a mistake! Suppose we
fail, and all the money goes, and we are left penniless and alone in
this great wilderness! I have read of it so often: people come up
hoping to make their fortunes, and the time passes, and they move into
smaller and smaller rooms--and no work comes--and they fall ill. It is
my doing! I persuaded Stephen. Oh Madge, if it's all a mistake, you
will believe I did it for the best, won't you? I was not thinking of
myself. It would have been easier for me to stay where we were. You
will not blame me if the money goes and ther