f my fault.'

Gertrude gave an impatient leap. 'There you go again! calling it your
fault is worse than Charles's improving the circumstance. It was my
fault, and it shall be my fault, and nobody else's fault, except Tom's,
and he will hate me, and never let me come near her to show that I am
not a nasty spiteful thing!'

'I think that if you are quiet and kind, and not flighty, he will
forget all that, and be glad to let you be a sister to her.'

'A sister to Ave Ward! Pretty preferment!' muttered Gertrude.

'Poor Ave! After the way she has borne her troubles, we shall feel it
an honour to be sisters to her.'

'And that chair!' broke out Gertrude. 'O, Ethel, you did out of malice
prepense make me vow it should be for Mrs. Thomas May.'

'Well, Daisy, if you won't suspect me of improving the circumstance, I
should say that finishing it for her would be capital discipline.'

'Horrid mockery, I should say,' returned Gertrude, sadly; 'a gaudy
rose-coloured chair, all over white fox-gloves, for a person in that
state--'

'Poor Tom's great wish is to have her drawing-room made as charming as
possible; and it would be a real welcome to her.'

'Luckily,' said Gertrude, breaking into laughter again, 'they don't
know when it began; how in a weak moment I admired the pattern, and
Blanche inflicted it and all its appurtenances on me, hoping to convert
me to a fancy-work-woman! Dear me, pride has a fall! I loved to
answer "Three stitches," when Mrs. Blanche asked after my progress.'

'Ah, Daisy, if you did but respect any one!'

'If they would not all be tiresome! Seriously, I know I must finish
the thing, because of my word.'

'Yes, and I believe keeping a light word that has turned out heavy, is
the best help in bridling the tongue.'

'And, Ethel, I will really try to be seen and not heard while I am
about the work,' said Gertrude, with an earnestness which proved that
she was more sorry than her manner conveyed.

Her resolution stood the trying test of a visit from the elder married
sisters; for, as Ethel said, the scent of the tidings attracted both
Flora and the Cheviots; and the head-master endeavoured to institute a
kind of family committee, to represent to the Doctor how undesirable
the match would be, entailing inconveniences that would not end with
the poor bride's life, and bringing at once upon Tom a crushing anxiety
and sorrow. Ethel's opinion was of course set aside by Mr. Cheviot,
but he did