nt.

"I could hardly be expected to know that by intuition," said Graeme,
coldly.

"She beckoned. Did you not see?"

"She beckoned to you; she would hardly venture on such a liberty with
me. There is not the slightest approach to intimacy between us, and
never will be, unless I have greatly mistaken her character."

"Oh, well, you may very easily have done that, you know very little
about her. She thinks very highly of you, I can assure you."

"Stuff!" pronounced Graeme, with such emphasis that she startled
herself, and provoked a hearty laugh from her brother.

"I declare, Graeme, I thought for the moment it was Harry that spoke for
Mrs Gridley in one of her least tolerant moods. It did not sound the
least like you."

Graeme laughed, too.

"Well, I was thinking of Harry at the minute, and as for Mrs Gridley--I
didn't mean to be cross, Arthur, but something disagreeable that she
once said to me did come into my mind at the moment, I must confess."

"Well, I wish you a more pleasant subject for meditation on your way
home," said Arthur. "Wait till I see if there are any letters. None, I
believe. Good-bye."

Mrs Gridley did not occupy Graeme's thoughts on her way home, yet they
were not very pleasant. All the way along the sunny streets she was
repeating to herself, "so absurd", "so foolish", "so impertinent of Mrs
Grove", "so disagreeable to be made the subject of gossip," and so on,
over and over again, till the sight of the obnoxious carriage gave her a
fresh start again. The lady did not beckon this time, she only bowed
and smiled most sweetly. But her smiles did not soothe Graeme's ruffled
temper, and she reached home at last quite ashamed of her folly. For,
after all, it was far less disagreeable to call herself silly than to
call Arthur foolish, and Mrs Grove impertinent, and she would not think
about it any more. So she said, and so she repeated, still thinking
about it more than was either pleasant or needful.

One night, Charlie Millar paid them a visit. He made no secret of his
delight at their return home, declaring that he had not known what to do
with himself in their absence, and that he had not been quite content or
at his ease since he sat in Graeme's arm-chair three months ago.

"One would not think so from the visits you have made us since we came
home," said Graeme, smiling. "You have only looked in upon us. We were
thinking you had forsaken us, or that you had found a more