in the great arm-chair and talked about what he would do when he was
big and a sailor. Cousin Crayshaw came down every other Saturday and
stayed till Monday, and Betty asked herself, as she watched him reading
his paper in the evening, whether he could be indeed the same Cousin
Crayshaw who had climbed over the school gate, and had danced 'hands
across and back again' with Patty for his partner. But, though Cousin
Crayshaw did not tell school stories or indulge in country dances at
the cottage, still the remembrance of that evening was a link between
himself and his young cousins which none of them could forget. The
girls did not seem to respect him less because they were less afraid of
him and because they ventured to talk about their own pleasures and
interests in his presence, and indeed now and then he would ask
questions himself, would even call Godfrey to him and want to know
about his lessons and how he managed to amuse himself. And as the days
got longer the three would coax him into the garden to look at their
flowers coming up, and one day Betty boldly offered him an auricula for
his button-hole. And though he seemed a little doubtful at first as to
whether such an ornament would become a grave and sober person like
himself, yet he let her put it in for him, and after that there was
never a Sunday that some flower did not appear on his plate at
breakfast, placed there by each of the three in turn. One evening,
while he was reading the paper, he looked up to see Angel standing by
his chair.

'Please, Cousin Crayshaw,' she said, with the colour coming into her
cheeks, 'might I read to you for a little while, if you think I could
read well enough?'

'It wouldn't interest you, Angelica,' said her cousin in surprise.

'Oh yes, it would,' pleaded Angel, 'especially if--if you would explain
about it to us a little. We think, Betty and Godfrey and I, that we
know so dreadfully little about the affairs of the country, and every
one ought to care about their country, oughtn't they? and we want to
understand about the war, because, you see, we must care about our
soldiers and sailors, and Captain Maitland is there, you know.'

And so Mr. Crayshaw, with a half-amused smile, let her try, and
positively found Betty's eager questions very interesting, and really
enjoyed explaining difficulties with Angelica's earnest eyes looking up
at him, so that the little household at the cottage became quite
politicians, and