suppose anybody else is likely to come burgling here, so you needn't
alarm yourself!"

"But if they do, Miss Wiseacre?"

"Then I should turn them over into the dressing-room, to be dealt with
at her discretion by Princess Carmel!" laughed Bertha. "I believe she's
equal to catching one of them in a mousetrap if she gets the
opportunity!"

CHAPTER IX

The Open Road

It was fortunate for Carmel that her first experience of England should
come in the spring and early summer. Had she arrived straight from sunny
Sicily to face autumn rains or winter snows, I verily believe her
courage would have failed, and she would have written an urgent and
imploring appeal to be fetched home. For the white, vine-covered house
that looked over the blue waters of the Mediterranean was still
essentially "home" to Carmel. She had been born and bred in the south,
and though one half of her was purely English, there was another side
that was strongly Italian. She was deeply attached to all her relations
and friends in Sicily, and from her point of view it was exile to live
so far away from them. The fact that she was owner of the Chase was, in
her estimation, no compensation whatever for her banishment from "Casa
Bianca." She made a very sweet and gentle little heiress, however. As
yet she was mistress only in name, for during her minority everything
was left in the hands of Mr. Bowden and a certain Canon Lowe, who were
guardians to all Mr. Ingleton's grandchildren, and kept the Chase open
as a home for them. The three girls returned there from Chilcombe Hall
at the end of the term, and were joined by the younger boys from their
preparatory school.

For a week or two they enjoyed themselves in the grounds and the park.
There was much to show Carmel, and she was happy sitting in the garden
or wandering in the woods. She soon made friends with the people on the
estate. The gamekeeper's children would come running out to meet her,
and stand round smiling while she hunted in her pocket for chocolates;
Milner's little girl adored her, and even the shy baby at the lodge
waxed friendly. Carmel was intensely fond of children, and the affection
which she had bestowed on younger brothers and sisters at home cropped
out on every occasion where her life touched that of smaller people. To
Roland, Bevis, and Clifford she was a charming companion. She would go
walks with them in the woods, help them to arrange their various
collections of but