red. They spoke with a curious mingling of
tongues, but had apparently no difficulty in understanding her when she
replied in rapid, colloquial French, so that it was evident that the
hours of play had not been wasted, but had the effect of successful
study.

"Mamzelle! Mamzelle Paddy, we have boats in our house!" cried Viva
eagerly. "Three boats with cushions, and a punt, and one with a funnel
in the miggle. And Cousin Jim takes us out with the 'nother gentleman,
and we splash with our hands, and the lady was cross because of her
sash, and she dried it in the sun. And there's tea in the garden, and a
big steamer that makes waves, and muzzer says if we are very good you
will play with us at being gipsies under the wheel-barrow."

"An' we got in a box, and the water went up, an' up, an' up, an' then it
went down, an' down, an' down, an' then we came home," contributed fat
little Inda in her deep, gurgling voice, and Pixie turned from one to
the other and cried, "Vraiment!" "Sans doute!" "Bravo!" and beamed in
delighted expectation.

The house-party were assembled on the lawn drinking tea when the pony-
carriage turned in at the gate, and Pixie looked round with sparkling
eyes, quite dazzled by the beauty of the scene. The narrow road,
running at the back of the houses, had been dull and uninteresting, but
before many yards of the drive had been traversed, there came a view
over the wide sunlit river, and beyond it green meadows stretching away
as far as the eye could reach.

The house was not a cottage after all, but quite a large, imposing-
looking house, and the lawn sloping to the river bank was smooth and
soft as velvet. Baskets of flowers hung from the verandah; picturesque
stumps of trees were hollowed out to receive pots of geraniums; a red
and white awning shaded the tea-table; and the wicker chairs were
plentifully supplied with scarlet cushions. It was Pixie's first peep
at the summer glories of the river, and she felt as if she had stepped
into fairyland itself.

The little girls seized her hands and dragged her in triumph across the
lawn, and Mrs Wallace looked round, and said smilingly to her friends--

"Here's my French governess--the latest addition to the household. What
do you think of my choice?"

"Governess! That girl! She looks a child herself. Edith, what
nonsense are you talking?"

"Sense, my dear, I assure you. The wisest thing I ever did, as you will
see before many hours