d Mrs. Rainham without the slightest idea
that she was saying anything peculiar. "Now, I'll go and put my things
out on my bed, and as soon as you've finished that you can come up and
pack for me."

Cecilia stood at the hall door that afternoon to watch her go--bustling
into the cab, with loud directions to the cabman, her hard face full of
self-importance and satisfaction. The plump hand waved a highly scented
handkerchief as the clumsy four-wheeler moved off.

"To think I'll never see you again!" breathed the girl. "It seems too
good to be true!"

A kind of wave of relief seemed to have descended upon the house. The
children were openly exulting in having no one to obey; an attitude
which, in the circumstances, failed to trouble their half-sister. Eliza
went about her work with a cheery face; even Cook, down in the basement,
manifested lightness of heart by singing love songs in a cracked soprano
and by making scones for afternoon tea. Mark Rainham did not come home
until late--he had announced his intention of dining at his club. Late
in the evening he sauntered into the dining-room, where Cecilia sat
sewing.

"Still at it?" he asked. He sat down and poked the fire. "What are you
sewing?"

"Just darning," Cecilia told him.

He sat looking at her for a while--at the pretty face and the
well-tended hair; and who shall say what thoughts stirred in his dull
brain?

"You look a bit pale," he said at last. "Do you go out enough?"

"Oh, yes, I think so," Cecilia answered in astonishment. Not in two
years had he shown so much interest in her; and it braced her to a
sudden resolve. She had never been quite satisfied to leave him without
a word; whatever he was, he was still her father. She put her darning on
her knee, and looked at him gravely.

"You know Bob is demobilized, don't you, Papa?"

"Yes--he told me so," Mark Rainham answered.

"And you know he wants to take me away?"

Her father's eyes wavered and fell before her.

"Oh, yes--but the idea's ridiculous, I'm afraid. You're under age, and
your stepmother won't hear of it." He poked the fire savagely.

"But if Bob could make a home for me! We have always been together, you
know, Papa."

"Oh, well--wait and see. Time enough when you're twenty-one, and your
own mistress; Bob will have had a chance to make good by then. I--I
can't oppose my wife in the matter--she says she's not strong enough to
do without your help."

"But she never seems satisfied