lk. In their absence, to
the great delight of Miss Peck, Gladys arrived home in a dogcart, hired
from the Mauchline Hotel.

'You have something to tell me, haven't you?' cried Gladys eagerly, as
she kissed her old friend. 'The girls have arrived, I am sure. And what
do you think of poor Lizzie? Is she not all I told you?'

'She is certainly a fine-looking girl, but she has said so little that I
don't know anything else about her.'

'But you have been very kind to them, I hope? I want you to be specially
kind to Lizzie. I am afraid she has had a very hard time of it lately,
and she is not strong.'

'My dear,'--Miss Peck laid her little hand, covered with its
old-fashioned rings, on the arm of her young charge, and her kind face
was full of anxiety,--'tell me why she has had a hard time. I hope she
is a good girl, Gladys? You have the kindest heart, my darling, but you
must look after your own interests. I hope she has given you quite a
satisfactory account of herself?'

'Dear Miss Peck,' said Gladys, with a light laugh, 'she has not given me
any account of herself at all, nor have I asked it. But, tell me, do you
think she looks like a wicked girl?'

'Well, no, not exactly; but I--I--have had a letter from Mrs. Fordyce
this morning,' said the little spinster, with the most unsophisticated
candour, 'and really, from it one might think your new _protegee_ quite
an objectionable person.'

Gladys looked distinctly annoyed. She had a very sweet disposition, but
was a trifle touchy regarding her own independence. Sundry rather sharp
passages which had occurred between Mrs. Fordyce and herself on this
very subject made her now readier to resent this new interference.

'I really wish Mrs. Fordyce would mind her own business,' she said, and
that was such a very harsh sentence to fall from the lips of Gladys that
Miss Peck looked rather startled. 'She has really no right to be writing
letters to you dictating what I shall do in my own house. Do you belong
to me, or to her, I wonder?'

The momentary resentment died away as she asked this question with the
old whimsical smile.

'I think she means it for your good, dear,' said the little spinster
meekly, 'and I think in some particulars she is right. I never dictate
to you, and for that very reason you will listen to what I am going to
say. I think you should not make too much of these girls when they are
here. Be kind to them, of course, and give them every comfort, but