er of
an hour ago. What name shall I give when she comes home?"

"Tell her Regina Orme called, and was very sorry she missed seeing
her. Say I will try to come again on Sunday afternoon, if the weather
is good. Who lives in the next house?"

"A family named Eggleston. I hear they sculp and paint for a living.
Good-day, miss. I won't forget to tell the old lady you called."

Walking leisurely homeward, Regina felt sorely perplexed in trying to
reconcile Olga's plea of indisposition and her lingering in bed, with
this sudden appearance in that distant quarter of the city, and her
evident desire to conceal her face, and to secure silence with regard
to the casual meeting. Was Mrs. Palma acquainted with her daughter's
movements, or was the girl's nervous excitement of the morning
indirectly connected with some mystery, of which the mother did not
even dream? That some adroitly hidden sorrow was the secret spring of
Olga's bitterness toward Mr. Palma, and the unfailing source of her
unjust and cynical railings against that society into which she
plunged with such inconsistent recklessness, Regina had long
suspected; and her conjecture was strengthened by the stony
imperturbability with which her guardian received the sarcasms often
aimed at him. Whatever the solution, delicacy forbade all attempts to
lift the veil of concealment, and resolving to banish unfavourable
suspicion concerning a woman to whom she had become sincerely
attached, Regina directed her steps toward one of the numerous small
parks that beautify the great city, and furnish breathing and
gambolling space for the helpless young innocents, who are debarred
all other modes of "airing," save such as are provided by the noble
munificence of New York. The day, though cold, was very bright, the
sky a cloudless grey-blue, the slanting beams of the sun filling the
atmosphere with gold-dust; and in crossing the square to gain the
street beyond Regina was attracted by a group of children romping
along the walk, and laughing gleefully.

One a toddling wee thing, with a scarlet cloak that swept the ground,
and a hood of the same warm tint drawn over her curly yellow hair and
dimpled round face, had fallen on the walk, unheeded by her
boisterous companions, and becoming entangled in the long garment
could not get up again. Pausing to lift the little creature to her
feet, and restore the piece of cake that had escaped from the chubby
hand, Regina stood smiling sympat