nice way, if you want to give a person a home
truth, to put it into a story. Nurse told me about that, and I
remembered it ever since. She used to put her home truths into
proverbs when I was quite young, such as, 'A burnt child dreads the
fire,' or 'Marry in haste, repent at leisure,' or----"

"Oh, that will do, Sibyl." Lady Helen spoke; there was almost a
piteous appeal in the words.

"Well," said Sibyl, "perhaps it is better to put home truths into
stories, not proverbs. It's like having more sugar. The 'home truth'
is the pill, and when it is sugared all over you can swallow it. You
can't swallow it _without_ the sugar, can you? Nursie begins her
stories like this: 'Miss Sibyl, once upon a time I knew a little
girl,' and then she tells me all about a horrid girl, and I know the
horrid girl is me. I am incited, of course, but very, very soon I get
down to the pill. Now, I am sure, Mr. Rochester, there are some things
you ought to be told, there are some things you do wrong, aren't
there, Mr. Rochester?"

"Oh, Sibyl, do stop that ceaseless chatter," cried her mother from the
other end of the carriage; "you talk the most utter nonsense," and
Sibyl for once was effectually silenced.

The party broke up at Victoria Station, and Mrs. Ogilvie and her
little daughter drove home. As soon as ever they arrived there Watson
informed Mrs. Ogilvie that Mr. Acland was waiting to see her in the
library.

"Tiresome man!" she muttered, but she went to see him at once. The
electric light was on; the room reminded her uncomfortably of her
husband. He spent a great deal of time in his library, more than a
very happy married man would have done. She had often found him there
with a perplexed brow, and a heart full of anxiety. She had found him
there, too, in his rare moments of exultation and happiness. She would
have preferred to see the lawyer in any room but this.

"Well," she said, "why did you send me that ridiculous telegram?"

"You would not be surprised if you had read the article which appeared
to-day in _The Financial Enquirer_."

"I have never heard of _The Financial Enquirer_."

"But City men know it," replied Mr. Acland, "and to a great extent it
governs the market. It is one of our leading financial papers. The
rumors it alludes to may be untrue, but they will influence the
subscriptions made by the public to the share capital. In fact, with
so ominous an article coming from so first-rate a source, nothing but