tried to look and act.

She came tripping in, and after greeting her hostess effusively, she
turned to the children.

"My, my!" she said. "What a group of little dears! How you have
grown,--every one of you. Kingdon, my dear boy, would you like to kiss
me?"

The request was far from acceptable to King, but the simper that
accompanied it so repelled him that he almost forgot his determination
to be very cordial to the unwelcome guest. But Midge gave him a warning
pinch on his arm, and with an unintelligible murmur of consent, he put
up his cheek for the lady's salute.

"Oh, what a dear boy!" she gurgled. "I really think I shall have to take
you home with me! And, now, here's Marjorie. How are you, my dear? Do
you go to school now? And what are you learning?"

Miss Larkin's questions always irritated Marjorie, but she answered
politely, and then stepped aside in Kitty's favor.

"Sweet little Katharine," said the visitor. "You are really an angel
child. With your golden hair and blue eyes, you're a perfect cherub;
isn't she, Mrs. Maynard?"

"She's a dear little girl," said her mother, smiling, "but not always
angelic. Here's our baby, our Rosamond."

"No, I'se Buffaro Bill!" declared Rosy Posy, assuming a valiant
attitude, quite out of keeping with her smiling baby face and chubby
body.

"Oh, what delicious children! Dear Mrs. Maynard, how good of you to let
me come to see them."

As Miss Larkin always invited herself, this speech was literally true,
but as she and Mrs. Maynard had been schoolmates long ago, the latter
felt it her duty to give her friend such pleasure as she could.

At the luncheon table, Miss Larkin kept up a running fire of questions.

This, she seemed to think, was the only way to entertain children.

"Do you like to read?" she asked of Marjorie.

"Yes, indeed," said Midget, politely.

"And what books do you like best?"

"Fairy stories," said Marjorie, promptly.

"Oh, tut, tut!" and Miss Larkin shook a playful finger. "You should
like history. Shouldn't she, now?" she asked, appealing to Kingdon.

"We like history, too," said Kingdon. "At least, we like it some; but we
both like fairy stories better."

"Ah, well, children will be children. Do you like summer or winter
best?"

This was a poser. It had never occurred to Marjorie to think which she
liked best.

"I like them both alike," she said, truthfully.

"Oh, come now; children should have some mind of their own! Little M