I'll see Miss Dolly,' said Caffyn, thinking that he might be
able to pass the time until Mabel's return. 'In the morning-room is
she? All right.'

He walked in alone, to find Dolly engaged in tearing off the postage
stamp from a letter. 'Hallo, Miss Juggins, what mischief are you up to
now?' he began, as he stood in the doorway.

'It's not mischief at all,' said Dolly, hardly deigning to look up
from her occupation. 'What have you come in for, Harold?'

'For the pleasure of your conversation,' said Caffyn. 'You know you
always enjoy a talk with me, Dolly.' (Dolly made a little mouth at
this.) 'But what are you doing with those scissors and that envelope,
if I'm not indiscreet in asking?'

Dolly was in a subdued and repentant mood just then, for she had been
so unlucky as to offend Colin the day before, and he had not yet
forgiven her. It had happened in this way. It had been a half-holiday,
and Colin had brought home an especial friend of his to spend the
afternoon, to be shown his treasures and, in particular, to give his
opinion as an expert on the merits of Colin's collection of foreign
postage-stamps.

Unhappily for Colin's purpose, however, Dolly had completely enslaved
the friend from the outset. Charmed by his sudden interest in the most
unboyish topics, she had carried him off to see her doll's house, and,
in spite of Colin's grumbling dissuasion, the base friend had gone
meekly. Worse still, he had remained up there listening to Dolly's
personal anecdotes and reminiscences and seeing Frisk put through his
performances, until it was too late to do anything like justice to the
stamp album, over which Colin had been sulkily fuming below, divided
between hospitality and impatience.

Dolly had been perfectly guiltless of the least touch of coquetry in
thus monopolising the visitor, for she was not precocious in this
respect, and was merely delighted to find a boy who, unlike Colin,
would condescend to sympathise with her pursuits; but perhaps the boy
himself, a susceptible youth, found Dolly's animated face and eager
confidences more attractive than the rarest postal issues.

When he had gone, Colin's pent-up indignation burst out on the
unsuspecting Dolly. She had done it on purpose. She knew Dickinson
major came to see his stamps. What did _he_ care about her rubbishy
dolls? And there she had kept him up in the nursery for hours wasting
his time! It was too bad of her, and so on, until she wept with grief