two while I'm over." She rose to take the
teacup from her aunt's hand, and to help herself to a couple of
sandwiches from a dainty heart-shaped dish. "Well--aren't you pleased
to have me, Aunt Soph? I've wanted years to come over and see you. It
seemed too bad that I knew none of Poppar's people. And now I'm here!"
She wheeled round, teacup in hand, staring curiously around the
handsome, over-furnished room; at the big ebony console table,
ornamented with bunches of fruit manufactured out of coloured pebbles;
at the grand piano in its walnut case; the piano which was never opened,
but which served as a stand for innumerable photographs and ornaments;
at the old-fashioned sofas and chairs in their glazey chintz covers; at
the glass-shaded vases on the marble mantelshelf. "I'm here, and it's
too quaint for words! Everything's--_different_! I suppose England
_is_ different, isn't it, Aunt Soph?"

"Very different!" Miss Briskett's tones fairly bubbled with innuendoes.
She put down her rolled slice of bread and butter, and added frostily,
"Before we go any further, Cornelia, I must really beg you to address me
by my proper name. My name is Sophia. You have no intention of being
disrespectful, I feel sure, but I am not accustomed to abbreviations. I
have never had a nickname in my life, and I have no wish to begin at
this late date."

"My! you poor sufferer, how lonesome for you! Nicknames are so homely
and cosy. I have about as many as I have toes. One of my friends calls
me `Corney.' He's a bit of a wag--(`He,' indeed!)--Another one calls me
`Nelia,'--`Neel-ya!'" She threw a lingering sentiment into the
repetition, and chuckled reminiscently. "To most of my chums I'm just
`Neely.' Life's too short for three syllables every day of the week!"

"Over here in England we are not too hurried to address people in a
proper manner. I shall call you by your full name, and expect you to do
the same by me."

"All right, Aunt Sophia Ann, just as you please," cried Cornelia,
naughtily. She was standing up, cup in hand, but even as she spoke she
subsided on to a footstool by Miss Briskett's side, with a sudden lithe
collapse of the body, which made that good lady gasp in dismay. She had
never seen anybody but a professional acrobat move so quickly or
unexpectedly, and felt convinced that the tea must have been spilt, and
crumbs scattered wholesale over the carpet. But no! not even a drop had
fallen into the sauc