No question about that! Esmeralda was radiant, more beautiful than
ever, and astonishingly grand. So was Bridgie! The little sister gazed
from one to the other with kindling eyes. Black dresses with tails to
them; fluffy gauze boas with ends floating to the knees; hats that were
not hats, but crinkled, brimless things like the Surbiton ladies wore in
the afternoons, and so light and gauzy that they might have been blown
away with a breath.

"You _are_ fine!" she gasped, and the girls laughed and cried merrily.

"We had our instructions, you see! We dared not come down until we had
bought new hats and gloves; and we put on our very best clothes for the
girls' benefit."

"And jewellery!" added Esmeralda; and Pixie looked at her with an even
more critical scrutiny. There was a little diamond brooch sparkling
among the laces at her throat. "Geoffrey gave me that!" There was a
gold bangle round her wrist, with a heart-shaped locket dangling from
the clasp. "Geoffrey gave me that!" There was a dainty little watch
pinned on to her dress. "Geoffrey gave me that!"

"Deary me," quoth Pixie at last, "it must be rather nice being engaged."

"It is, my dear. Quite nice! And he gave us these boas too,--insisted
upon buying them when he came shopping with us this morning. He said
boas were the fashionable thing, and he really dared not allow us to
face `the girls' without them. He is very extravagant, but he says he
will only be engaged once, and after we are married he will be as
careful as I like. It was through his lawyer that we found our tenant.
Geoffrey told him about the place, and it seemed that it was just
exactly what a client had been wanting. We have not seen him yet, but
he is tremendously interested in old places, and is going to spend a lot
of money putting things into repair, which, of course, is a very good
thing for us. He has taken it for ten years, and by the end of the
lease Jack hopes he may be able to go back himself, for part of the
year, at any rate. It is hard to leave Knock, but not so hard as we
expected, for I am to be married, and the rest of you will be together,
and able to enjoy seeing the sights, and all the fun and bustle of town
life."

"And it will be so good for the boys! They were idling away their time,
but now they will have to set to work in earnest to make their way in
the world. It will be the making of them, so even if we do feel
homesick at times it will be a lig