rs Constable live?'

'A very short way from here, at a place called The Paddock.'

'And you think well of the woman?'

'Cecilia Constable! She is delightful. Why, the dear soul has sent
her boys to my school, and comes here herself daily to undertake
kindergarten work in order to help her to pay the expenses of her
children.'

'Bravo!' said Mrs Maclure. 'Why, of course, she can take them all. Is
her house a good size? Has it a respectable appearance?'

'It is a beautiful house, the home of a true lady.'

'So much the better. The thing is as right as rain. Is she here now?'

'Yes, and very busy.'

'I must see her. I cannot lose this golden chance for you, Elsie. Her
own five sons, and Master Henry de Courcy Anstel, Roger Carden, and
Ivor Chetwode, shall all move to The Paddock on Monday next. She will,
of course, be the head of the house, and tutors will be provided for
the instruction of the boys. I can assure you, Elsie, that neither I
nor my friends will have the least objection to your girls and her boys
playing games together and meeting at each other's homes. And now I
think I have done you a good turn. I have saved Ardshiel from ruin,
and The Paddock, or, if you prefer it, the Annex, will hold the boys,
old or young, who may wish to go there. Please send Mrs Constable to
see me, for I must immediately communicate with my friends. Ardshiel
will be packed by this day week, if Mrs Constable proves satisfactory.'

'Well, really, I don't know what to think,' said Mrs Macintyre.
'Perhaps you are right, and I know dear Cecilia would like to have her
boys back with her again. I 'll send her to you.'

Nobody could look into the gentle, gray eyes of Cecilia Constable
without feeling an instinctive trust in her, which was quickly, very
quickly, to ripen into love. All those who knew her loved her, for she
was made for love and self-sacrifice. Forgetting herself, she thought
ever and always of others; and when, in her quiet, Quaker-like dress,
she entered the room, Mrs Maclure said, under her breath, 'Good
gracious, what a beautiful creature! How admirably she will manage the
Annex!'

It was not likely that Mrs Constable had parted with her five boys with
any sense of joy, and it was not lightly that she had undertaken the
duties of kindergarten mistress at Ardshiel; but right to her was
right, and it seemed the only way to pay expenses. As Mrs Maclure
unfolded her scheme the gray eyes grew br