s not a girl in Oldport with such
an air as hers."

"Not Kate herself?" said Emilia, slyly.

"I?" said Kate. "What am I? A silly chit of a thing, with about a dozen
ideas in my head, nearly every one of which was planted there by Hope.
I like the nonsense of the world very well as it is, and without her I
should have cared for nothing else. Count Posen asked me the other day,
which country produced on the whole the most womanly women, France or
America. He is one of the few foreigners who expect a rational answer.
So I told him that I knew very little of Frenchwomen personally, but
that I had read French novels ever since I was born, and there was not
a woman worthy to be compared with Hope in any of them, except Consuelo,
and even she told lies."

"Do not begin upon Hope," said Aunt Jane. "It is the only subject
on which Kate can be tedious. Tell me about the dresses. Were people
over-dressed or under-dressed?"

"Under-dressed," said Phil. "Miss Ingleside had a half-inch strip of
muslin over her shoulder."

Here Philip followed Hope out of the room, and Emilia presently followed
him.

"Tell on!" said Aunt Jane. "How did Philip enjoy himself?"

"He is easily amused, you know," said Kate. "He likes to observe people,
and to shoot folly as it flies."

"It does not fly," retorted the elder lady. "I wish it did. You can
shoot it sitting, at least where Philip is."

"Auntie," said Kate, "tell me truly your objection to Philip. I think
you did not like his parents. Had he not a good mother?"

"She was good," said Aunt Jane, reluctantly, "but it was that kind of
goodness which is quite offensive."

"And did you know his father well?"

"Know him!" exclaimed Aunt Jane. "I should think I did. I have sat up
all night to hate him."

"That was very wrong," said Kate, decisively. "You do not mean that. You
only mean that you did not admire him very much."

"I never admired a dozen people in my life, Kate. I once made a list of
them. There were six women, three men, and a Newfoundland dog."

"What happened?" said Kate. "The Is-raelites died after Pharaoh, or
somebody, numbered them. Did anything happen to yours?"

"It was worse with mine," said Aunt Jane. "I grew tired of some and
others I forgot, till at last there was nobody left but the dog, and he
died."

"Was Philip's father one of them?"

"No."

"Tell me about him," said Kate, firmly.

"Ruth," said the elder lady, as her young handmaiden passed the doo