ey returned her call, and fortunately found
the children's Mother at home. So all sorts of questions were asked and
answered, and when Helena and the boys came in from their walk, Mrs.
Frere had a whole budget of news for them.

There were _four_ Kingleys, but the eldest was a girl of sixteen, whom
the children put aside at once as "no good," and listened impatiently to
hear about the others.

"Next to Sybil," said their Mother, "comes Hugh; he is four years
younger--only twelve--and then Freda, nearly eleven, and lastly Maggie,
a 'tom-boy,' her Mother calls her, of eight."

[Illustration]

"I shall like her awfully if she's a tom-boy," said Helena very
decidedly, while Willie and Leigh looked rather puzzled. They had never
heard of a tom-boy before, and could not make out if it meant a boy or a
girl, till afterwards, when Helena explained it to them, and then Willie
said he had thought it must mean a girl, "'cos of Maggie being a girl's
name."

"I hope you will like them all," said Mrs. Frere. "By their Mother's
account they seem to be very hearty, sensible children; indeed, she
says they are just a little wild, for she and Mr. Kingley have been a
great deal abroad, and the three younger children were for two years
with a lady, who was rather too old to look after them properly."

"How dreadfully unhappy they must have been," said Helena, in a tone of
pity.

"No," said her Mother, "I don't think they were unhappy. On the
contrary, they were rather spoilt and allowed to run wild. Of course I
am telling you this just as a very little warning, in case Hugh and his
sisters ever propose to do anything you do not think I should like. Do
not give in for fear of vexing them; they will like you all the better
in the end if they see you try to be as good and obedient out of sight,
as when your Father and I are with you. Do you understand, dears?"

"Yes," said Helena, "of course we won't do anything naughty, Mamma,"
though in her heart she thought that "running wild" sounded rather nice.

"And you, boys?" added their Mother, "do you understand, too?"

"Yes, Mamma," they said, Willie adding, "If you're not there or Nurse,
we'll do whatever Nelly says."

"That's right," said Mrs. Frere. "Nelly, you hear?--the responsibility
is on your shoulders, you see, dear," but she smiled brightly. For she
felt sure that Helena was to be trusted.

It had been arranged by the two Mammas that the three Kingley children
were to spen