"Yes, go and make friends with Rosalind, Peggy dear! She was asking for
you," said Mrs Asplin kindly; and as the girl walked away the two
ladies exchanged smiling glances.

"Amusing! Such grand little manners! Evidently a character."

"Oh, quite! Peggy is nothing if not original. She is a dear, good
girl, but quite too funny in her ways. She is really the incarnation of
mischief, and keeps me on tenter-hooks from morning until night, but
from her manner you would think she was a model of propriety. Nothing
delights her so much as to get hold of a new word or a high-sounding
phrase."

"But what a relief to have someone out of the ordinary run! There are
so many bores in the world, it is quite refreshing to meet with a little
originality. Dear Mrs Asplin, you really must tell me how you manage
to look so happy and cheerful in this dead-alive place? I am desolate
at the idea of staying here all winter. What in the world do you find
to do?"

Mrs Asplin laughed.

"Indeed, that's not the trouble at all; the question is how to find time
to get through the day's duties! It's a rush from morning till night,
and when evening comes I am delighted to settle down in an easy-chair
with a nice book to read. One has no chance of feeling dull in a house
full of young people."

"Ah, you are so good and clever, you get through so much. I want to ask
your help in half a dozen ways. If we are to settle down here for some
months, there are so many arrangements to make. Now tell me, what would
you do in this case?" The two ladies settled down to a discussion on
domestic matters, while Peggy crossed the room to the corner where
Rosalind Darcy sat in state, holding her court with Esther and Mellicent
as attendant slaves. She wore the same grey dress in which she had
appeared in church the day before, but the jacket was thrown open, and
displayed a distractingly dainty blouse, all pink chiffon, and frills,
and ruffles of lace. Her gloves lay in her lap, and the celebrated
diamond ring flashed in the firelight as she held out her hand to meet
Peggy's.

"How do you do? So glad to see you! I've heard of you often. You are
the little girl who is my bwothar's fwiend." She pronounced the letter
"r" as if it had been "w," and the "er" in brother as if it had been
"ah," and spoke with a languid society drawl more befitting a woman of
thirty than a schoolgirl of fifteen.

Peggy stood motionless and looked her over, fr