splitting with laughing
outside the window? I would not let her come in for fear she should
spoil all."

"And I was just going to give her such a scolding for giggling in the
garden," said Flora, "and to say we had been as bad as Miss Walkingham.
You should not have been so awkward, Harry; you nearly betrayed
yourself."

"He had nobody to teach him but Mary," said Ethel.

"Ah! you should have seen me at my ease in Minster Street. No one
suspected me there."

"In Minster Street. Oh, Harry, you don't really mean it!"

"I do. That was what I did it for. I was resolved to know what the
nameless ones said of the Misses May."

Hasty and eager inquiries broke out from Flora and Ethel.

"Oh, Dr. May was very clever, certainly, very clever. Had I seen the
daughters? I said I was going to call there, and they said--"

"What, oh, what, Harry?"

"They said Flora was thought pretty, but--and as to Ethel, now, how do
you think you came off, Unready?"

"Tell me. They could not say the same of me, at any rate."

"Quite the reverse! They called Ethel very odd, poor girl."

"I don't mind," said Ethel. "They may say what they please of me;
besides that, I believe it is all Harry's own invention."

"Nay, that is a libel on my invention!" exclaimed Harry. "If I had drawn
on that, could I not have told you something much droller?"

"And was that really all?" said Flora.

"They said--let me see--that all our noses were too long, and, that as
to Flora's being a beauty! when their brothers called her--so droll
of them--but Harvey called her a stuck-up duchess. In fact, it was the
fashion to make a great deal of those Mays."

"I hope they said something of the sailor brother," said Ethel.

"No; I found if I stayed to hear much more, I should be knocking Ned
down, so I thought it time to take leave before he suspected."

All this had passed very quickly, with much laughter, and numerous
interjections of amusement, and reprobation, or delight. So excited were
the young people, that they did not perceive a step on the gravel,
till Dr. May entered by the window, and stood among them. His first
exclamation was of consternation. "Margaret, my dear child, what is the
matter?"

Only then did her brother and sisters perceive that Margaret was lying
back on her cushions, very pale, and panting for breath. She tried to
smile and say, "it was nothing," and "she was silly," but the words were
faint, from the palpitation of her heart.