arrissima,
laughing quite cheerfully, "and kindly give me back the card-case."

He came to a standstill close to Colonel Faversham's house as he put it
back in her hand.

"Now, I'm off," he said. "That's all I was waiting for."

"What?" asked Carrissima.

"To hear you laugh again."

"Jimmy," she said, "I sometimes wonder whether your inveterate
cheerfulness is the sign of a shallow mind!"

"Oh well, you see, it's one of the few useful things I can do," he
answered. "To swing a light about."

"Still, it isn't always safe to go full speed ahead," she suggested.

"Oh dear, no," said Jimmy. "We all have to put the brakes hard on now
and then; but the fact remains that a coward dies a hundred deaths, you
know."

Carrissima entered the house a moment after he walked away, and going
to the drawing-room sat down to tea just as she was in her hat and
jacket.

Could it be possible that her father seriously thought of marriage? In
that event, the whole course of her life would be altered! She could
never consent to stay at home if Bridget ruled the roast! Looking at
her watch, presently, Carrissima saw that it was about the time when
Lawrence could usually be found in the bosom of his family, and going
down-stairs again she let herself out of the house. On reaching
Charteris Street she saw him with Victor on his knees, whilst Phoebe on
hers looked at the boy with anxious eyes.

He looked pale and fretful in consequence of yesterday's party, and
when his nurse had carried him out of the room to an accompaniment of
noisy expostulations, Carrissima turned to her brother--

"Lawrence," she said, "I am really in the most dreadful state of mind.
I am beginning to wonder whether you could possibly have been right,
after all."

"Thank you," answered Lawrence stiffly. "But, of course, a prophet is
not without honour----"

"Yes, I know," Carrissima interrupted. "It's about Bridget."

"What has she been doing?" asked Phoebe.

"You remember she told us that to-day would be her birthday?"

"The most barefaced hint I ever heard in my life," said Lawrence.

"Well, I thought I would take her a small present----"

"A pity you can't hold yourself in a little more," was the answer.
"You must gush!"

"Anyhow," Carrissima continued quite humbly, "I went to
Donaldson's--Phoebe, I saw the duckiest little opal brooch. I was half
tempted----"

"For goodness' sake get along with the story!" cried Lawrence fretfully.