er voice there sounded the music
of a great tenderness. "Youth is never tidy, Lady Grace; but there is
nothing in the world like it."

Lady Grace's eyes went to her daughter whose faultless apparel and
perfection of line were in vivid contrast to Dinah's harum-scarum
appearance.

"I do not altogether agree with you in that respect, Mrs. Everard," she
said, with a smile. "I think young girls should always aim at being
presentable. But I quite admit that it is more difficult for some than
for others. Dinah, my dear, Mrs. Everard has been kind enough to ask you
to lunch in her sitting-room with her, and to go for a sleigh-drive
afterward; so you had better run and get respectable as quickly as you
can."

"Oh, how kind you are!" Dinah said, with earnest eyes uplifted. "You know
how I shall love to come, don't you?"

"I thought you might, dear," Isabel said. "Scott is coming to keep us
company. He has arranged for a sleigh to be here in an hour. We are going
for a twelve-mile round, so we must not be late starting. It gets so cold
after sundown."

"I had better go then, hadn't I?" said Dinah.

"I am coming too," Isabel said. Her arm was still about her. It remained
so as she turned to go. "Good-bye, Lady Grace! I will take great care of
the child. Thank you for allowing her to come."

She bowed with regal graciousness and moved away, taking Dinah with her.

"Exit Purple Empress!" murmured a man in the background close to Rose.
"Who on earth is she? I haven't seen her anywhere before."

Rose uttered her soft, artificial laugh. "She is Sir Eustace Studley's
sister. Rather peculiar, I believe, even eccentric. But I understand they
are of very good birth."

"That covers a multitude of sins," he commented. "She's been a mighty
handsome woman in her day. She must be many years older than Sir Eustace.
She looks more like his mother than his sister."

"I believe she is actually younger," Rose said. "They say she has never
recovered from the sudden death of her husband some years ago, but I know
nothing of the circumstances."

"A very charming woman," said Lady Grace, joining them. "We have had
quite a long chat together. Yes, her manner is a little strange, slightly
abstracted, as if she were waiting for something or someone. But a very
easy companion on the whole. I think you will like her, Rose dear."

"She's dead nuts on Dinah," observed Billy with a chuckle. "She don't
look at anyone else when she's got Dinah."