ly.

"Nervous! I'm not!" She spoke indignantly. "But when your allowance is
strictly limited, and you have to pay for repairs yourself, you don't
want people running into you from the back and perhaps smashing up your
pet Douglas!"

"I see." He smiled discreetly, and Mrs. Carstairs claimed his attention
once more.

"And this"--she drew the child forward--"is Cherry."

"How are you?" Anstice, who was always polite to children, shook hands,
and the child looked at him with a pair of very clear brown eyes.

"Quite well, thank you, my dear," she responded gravely, and Iris Wayne
was secretly much diverted by the expression of astonishment which this
form of address evoked in the face of the hearer.

"You like motoring?" Anstice felt constrained to keep up the
conversation, and Cherry nodded calmly.

"Very much, my dear. Do you?"

"Yes...." Anstice experienced an overwhelming desire to repeat her
endearing term, but luckily refrained. "This is my car--will you come
for a ride with me one day?"

For a second Cherry regarded him with a pensive courtesy which was
almost embarrassing. Then:

"With pleasure, my dear," she replied, and Iris laughed outright.

"You fickle child! And you have always declared you liked my motor
better than any car that ever was seen!"

"So I do." Cherry looked up at her with unsmiling gravity. "But----"

"But now you must all come in and have lunch." Mrs. Carstairs turned to
Anstice. "Dr. Anstice, you can spare us a little time, can't you? Lunch
is quite ready, and Cherry, I'm sure, endorses my invitation!"

He hesitated, torn between a desire to accept and an uncomfortable
suspicion that he could not afford the time.

"You will have to lunch somewhere, you know!" Her manner was a trifle
warmer than usual. "And it will really save time to do it here!"

"My lunch is a very hurried affair as a rule," he said, smiling. "But if
I may run away as soon as I've finished I'll be delighted to stay."

He felt a small hand slip into his as he spoke, and looked down, to meet
Cherry's clear eyes.

"Do stay, my dear!" Her tone was a quaint imitation of her mother's, and
before the twofold invitation Anstice's scruples were put to flight.

"I'll stay with pleasure," he said, patting the kind little hand; and
with an air of satisfaction Cherry led him into the hall, her mother and
Miss Wayne following their lead.

Once seated at the pretty round table, sweet with the fragrance of
hyacinths i