the charge. If I see things that can be
improved, I am certainly not going to be quiet. Suppose Mr Rayner or
the Newcomes came here to see us, what would they think if they came
into a half-lit hall as we did last night?"

"Yes, I knew that was it. It's your grand London friends you are
thinking of. If they are too grand to come here, let them stay away.
Father is a greater man than any of them, if he is not rich."

"Girls, girls, girls! what is all this?" Miss Briggs pulled aside the
curtain over the doorway, and came hurriedly into the room. "I heard
your voices across the hall. Are you quarrelling the first day Hilary
is at home? Don't let your father hear, I beg you; he would be terribly
grieved. What is the matter?"

"It's Hilary's fault. She has done nothing but grumble all day long,
and I can't stand it. She has made Lettice miserable; the servants are
as cross as they can be, and there's no peace in the house."

"Norah has been very rude to me, Miss Briggs. I am obliged to find
fault when things are wrong, and I can't help it if the servants are
cross."

Miss Briggs looked at the younger girls. "Go upstairs, dears, and
change your dresses for dinner. I want to speak to Hilary by herself,"
she said quietly, and Lettice and Norah left the room with awed faces.
The kind old governess did not often interfere with the girls now that
they were growing up, but when she did, there was a directness about her
speech which was very telling, and this afternoon was no exception to
the rule.

"Hilary," she said slowly, when the door had closed behind the two
younger girls, "I have been with you now for ten years, and have watched
you grow up from a little girl. You were my first pupil, and I can't
help taking a special interest in you. You were a dear little child. I
thought you would grow up into a sweet, lovable woman; but you will have
to change a great deal, Hilary, if you are to do that! You will think
me cruel; but your mother is dead, and I must be truthful with you for
your own good. I think you have behaved very unkindly to your sisters
to-day. You have been away enjoying yourself while they were left at
home; they did their best to fill your place, and counted the days until
your return, and you have made them miserable from the moment of your
arrival. The house is as you left it; but even supposing you had
noticed a few things which were not to your taste, you could have put
them right