ce, wouldn't you?"

Mollie laughed gaily.

"Not a bit. I'd criticise, too, and shake hands high up--like this--and
be pleasant and condescending. We are Uncle Bernard's nearest relations
remember, and the guests of honour... Now, we are beginning to go up
the hill! You remember mother said there was a long, winding hill, and
at the top to the left stood the lodge gates. Don't talk! I don't want
to miss a single thing."

So each girl stared steadily out of her window as the horses slowly
mounted the hill path. For the first few hundred yards there were
hedges on either side, and beyond them a wide, uneven landscape; then
came a little village, grouped round a square "green," with all the
picturesque accessories of church, ivy-covered parsonage, thatched
roofs, and duck-pond, which travellers look for in a well-conducted
English village. This passed, there was another climb upwards, a wider
view of the valley beneath, and finally a sharp turn to the left, and a
long drive leading to the greystone Court, whose beauties photographs
had made familiar.

The butler threw open the door as the carriage stopped, and the
travellers thrilled with excitement as they crossed the threshold.
First a square vestibule, then the great hall itself, stretching the
whole length of the wing, and turning to the right by the foot of the
staircase.

The girls' eyes turned in a flash to the tapestry on the walls, and the
wooden portraits of ancestors; but besides these historic relics there
were many articles belonging to a later and more luxurious age. Carved
oak tables, laden with books and magazines; chairs and lounges of every
description; a fireplace brilliant with beaten copper and soft green
tiles; leather screens shielding cosy corners; cabinets of china and
curios.

It was even more imposing than imagination had painted it; but--there
was no one there! No Uncle Bernard to speak a word of greeting; no
flutter of silken skirts belonging to nice girls who had no sisters, and
were dying to adopt other nice girls without delay; no scent of
cigarettes smoked by interesting young men, who might have sisters or
might not, but who would certainly be pleased to welcome Berengaria and
Lucille!

Ruth had knitted her dark brows, and drawn herself stiffly erect; Mollie
was prepared to smile in benign patronage on less important guests. It
was a trifle disconcerting to see no one at all but a little, black-
robed lady, who came hur