ng done his duty, he sat
down, drawing the skirts of his frock-coat close around his bony thighs.
He had done his best; his reward was this child's hatred--which she
already forgot in the confused delight of her sudden liberation.

Dazed with happiness, to one after another Geraldine courtesied and
extended the narrow childlike hand of amity--even to him. Then, as
though treading on invisible pink clouds, she floated out and away
up-stairs, scarcely conscious of passing her brother on the stairway,
who was now descending for his turn before the altar of authority.

* * * * *

When Scott returned he appeared to be unusually red in the face.
Geraldine seized him ecstatically:

"Oh, Scott! I _am_ to come out, after all--and I'm to have my quarterly,
and gowns, and everything. I could have hugged Mr. Grandcourt--the dear!
I was so frightened--frightened into rudeness--and then that beast of a
Tappan scared me terribly. But it is all right now--and _what_ did they
promise you, poor dear?"

Scott's face still remained flushed as he stood, hands in his pockets,
head slightly bent, tracing with the toe of his shoe the carpet pattern.

"You want to know what they promised me?" he asked, looking up at his
sister with an unpleasant laugh. She poured a few drops of cologne onto
a lump of sugar, placed it between her lips, and nodded:

"They _did_ promise you something--didn't they?"

"Oh, certainly. They promised to make it hot for me if I ever again
borrowed money on notes."

"Scott! did you do that?"

"Give my note? Certainly. I needed money--I've told old tabby Tappan so
again and again. In a year I'll have all the money I need--so what's the
harm if I borrow a little and promise to pay when I'm of age?"

Geraldine considered a moment: "It's curious," she reflected, "but do
you know, Scott, I never thought of doing that. It never occurred to me
to do it! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because," said her brother with an embarrassed laugh, "it's not exactly
a proper thing to do, I believe. Anyway, they raised a terrible row
about it. Probably that's why they have at last given me a decent
quarterly allowance; they think it's safer, I suppose--and they're
right. The stingy old fossils."

The boyish boast, the veiled hint of revolt and reprisal vaguely
disturbed Geraldine's sense of justice.

"After all," she said, "they have meant to be kind. They didn't know
how, that's all. And, Scott,