d the important roles in
any games, hid rather than put forward the high marks she received in
her studies, and was lavish with her invitations to her schoolmates to
visit her at home.

The outside of this house, which Mr. Fingal had rented a month or so
before when they first moved to La Chance, was like any one of many in
the region; but the interior differed notably from those to which the
other children were accustomed. For one thing there was no "lady of
the house," Mrs. Fingal having died a short time before. Camilla and
Cecile could do exactly as they pleased, and they gave the freedom of
the house and its contents lavishly to their little friends. In the
kitchen was an enormous old negro woman, always good-natured, always
smelling of whiskey. She kept on hand a supply of the most meltingly
delicious cakes and cookies, and her liberal motto, "Heah, chile,
put yo' han' in the cookie-jah and draw out what you lights on!" was
always flourished in the faces of the schoolmates of the two daughters
of the house.

In the rest of the house, filled with dark, heavy, dimly shining
furniture, reigned Mattice, another old negro woman, but, unlike the
jolly, fat cook, yellow and shriveled and silent. She it was who
arrayed Camille and Cecile with such unerring taste, and her skilful
old hands brushed and dressed their long black hair in artful twists
and coils.

Here, against their own background, the two girls seemed more at their
ease and showed more spontaneity than at school. They were fond of
"dressing up" and of organizing impromptu dramatizations of the
stories of familiar books, and showed a native ability for acting
which explained their success in recitations. Once when the fun was
very rollicking, Camilla brought out from a closet a banjo and,
thrumming on its strings with skilful fingers, played a tingling
accompaniment to one of her songs. The other little girls were
delighted and clamored for more, but she put it away quickly with
almost a frown on her sweet face, and for once in her life did not
yield to their demands.

"Well, I think more of her for that!" remarked Judith, when this
incident was repeated to her by Sylvia, who cried out, "Why, Judy, how
_hateful_ you are about poor Camilla!"

Nothing was learned about the past history of the Fingals beyond the
fact, dropped once by the cook, that they had lived in Louisiana
before coming to La Chance, but there were rumors, based on nothing
at all, and