s them in the latest fashion, I observe."

"They _are_ shabby," Mrs. Caldwell acknowledged with a sigh,
apologetically.

Beth shovelled some spoonfuls of pudding into her mouth very quickly.
"That's the money bother again," she said, and then she sang out at
the top of her voice--

"Bryan O'Lynn had no breeches to wear,
He bought a sheepskin for to make him a pair,
With the skinny side out, and the woolly side in,
'They're warm in the winter,' said Bryan O'Lynn."

"I suppose it would be quite impossible to suppress this child?" Uncle
James lisped with deceptive mildness. "I observe that she joins in the
conversation always, with great intelligence and her mouth full. It
might be better, perhaps, if she emptied her mouth. However, I suppose
it would be impossible to teach her."

"Not at all," Beth answered for herself, cheerfully. "I'm not too
stupid to empty my mouth! Only just you tell me what it is you want.
Don't bottle things up. I expect I've been speaking with my mouth full
ever since I came, and you've been hating me for it; but you never
told me."

"May I ask," said Uncle James politely, "by whom you were informed
that I 'bottled things up'?"

"Ah, that would be telling," said Beth, and recommenced gobbling her
pudding, to the intense relief of some of the party.

Great-Aunt Victoria Bench, sitting upright opposite, looked across the
table at the child, and a faint smile flickered over her wrinkled
rose-leaf cheek.

Beth finished her pudding, dropped her spoon on her plate with a
clatter, leant back in her chair, and sighed with satisfaction. She
possessed a horrid fascination for Uncle James. Almost everything she
did was an offence to him, yet he could not keep his eyes off her or
let her alone.

"Pudding seems to be a weakness of hers," he now observed. "I hope her
voracity is satisfied. I should say that it resembles the voracity of
the caterpillar."

"What's voracity, Aunt Victoria?" Beth asked.

"Greediness," Aunt Victoria rejoined sententiously.

"He means I'm greedy for pudding? I just _am_! I'd like to be a
caterpillar for pudding. Caterpillars eat all day. But then God's good
to them. He puts them on a tree with lots of leaves. I wish He'd put
me in a pantry with lots of puddings! My vorass--vor--what is it? Any
way, it's satisfied now, Uncle James, and if you'll let me go, I'll
wash myself, and get ready for Lady Benyon."

Rather than let her go when she wanted t