e finest, and the kiss that never comes off the
sweetest?"

Mrs. Penticost turned and surveyed her with a kindly tolerance for her
impertinent youth.

"You'm spaken' truer than you do knaw," she told her. "And truer than
you'll knaw for many a day to come if you'm one of the lucky ones. Now I
suppose you'll be like you always were, Miss Judy, washing the life out
of 'ee weth hot water? The bath's gone up overstairs."

Judy laughingly got to her feet and went up to her room. She was very
tired; though she was tenacious of constitution, the first elasticity of
youth was gone from her, and she was glad of the warm water, the soft
bed, the light meal of eggs and cocoa that Mrs. Penticost brought her
when she was between the sheets. Ishmael was not the only one who felt a
deadening of the spirit that night, and even on awakening the following
morning. Judith had carried that about with her in her consciousness for
enough years now to recognise the old weight upon her thoughts on
awakening. But Georgie, triumphant, healthy, full of excitement at the
new world that lay beyond the low wall of Paradise Cottage, ran into
Judith's room, the "best" bedroom, the one Blanche Grey had had when the
childish Judy had been wont to come in as Georgie came in to the woman
Judy now. The turn of the wheel struck upon Miss Parminter's mind as she
lay and watched the slim, sturdy young thing perched upon the end of the
bed, her boyish head bare and a ray of morning sun tingeing its soft
brown to a brighter hue and showing up the clearness of her pale matt
skin.

"I don't think I much like your hero of romance," grumbled Georgie. "He
took precious little notice of either of us, and he looks so surly."

"He's not my hero," objected Judy, "he's Joe's; and I'm sure he isn't
really surly. I think he was disappointed at not seeing Joe."

"Well, it was very ungallant of him when we turned up all right. I have
a good mind to flirt outrageously with him to punish him. And when he's
deeply in love with me I shall say 'No, thank you, sir! I've no use for
surly squires, and I've a young man of my own at home.'"

"Georgie, you're to do nothing of the sort. You know I told you all
about him to make you careful. He was abominably treated by that cat
Blanche, and I won't have it happen again."

"Well, I don't suppose I shall have a chance. I don't suppose he'll look
at me. I don't think country bumpkins are educated up to my peculiar
style of beauty.