k?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"You are also aware, I presume, that to wander alone bareheaded is not
the habit of young ladies in this neighbourhood, and that it is
intensely annoying to me that you should do so?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"You _do_ know! You are not ashamed to acknowledge it! Then may I
inquire why you have deliberately chosen to do what you know to be
wrong?"

Cornelia drew up a comfortable chair and seated herself by her aunt's
side, arranging her draperies with a succession of little pulls and
pats. She rested one elbow on the arm of the chair, and leant her chin
upon the upraised palm, a pretty, thoughtful-looking pose into which she
fell naturally in leisure moments. The cat blinked at her through
sleepy eyelids, then, deliberately ignoring the devotion of years, rose
from its place by its mistress's side, stretched itself with feline
grace, and stalked majestically across the rug to nestle against the
soft white skirts. Miss Briskett eyed its desertion over the brim of
her spectacles. Poor lady! her measure of love received was so small,
that she felt a distinct pang at the defection.

"What explanation have you to offer, Cornelia? You knew that you would
annoy me?"

"Why, yes, of course. That's all there was to it! It didn't thrill me
a mite to walk over a strip of lawn, without figging up in my best duds.
I can do that any day I want at home, but I just _had_ to raise Cain
somehow! It's the only way I ken pull round again when I get mad. I
just go right away and do the ugliest thing I can strike, and then I
feel all soothed, and calmed down. You try it yourself, next time; it
beats knitting stockings all into fits! I'm just as sweet as candy now,
so you've got to forgive me, and be friends. I'm sorry I acted so mean,
but you were pretty nippy yourself, weren't you now? I guess we've both
been used to take our own way without any fluster, and it comes pretty
hard to be crossed, but now we've had our fling, we've got to kiss and
make friends. That's so; isn't it?"

She bent forward, pouting her lips to receive the token of peace, but
Miss Briskett drew back in chilly dignity. For the past hour she had
nourished a smouldering resentment, feeling herself the most ill-used of
womenkind, and this calm inclusion of herself in the list of wrong-doers
did not tend to pour oil on the troubled waters. For Cornelia to
acknowledge her deliberate intention to offend, and in the same breath
to offer