lip away at that moment and hide behind
one of the statues in the passage during the exit of his step-mother
with the weeping Niobe; but when the sound of their footsteps had died
away in the distance, he rushed into the oak parlour, and seizing
Winnie round the waist, treated her to several convulsive hugs and
various exclamations of supreme delight.

"Well, old girl, you did the thing first-rate," he panted, throwing
himself into a chair and rubbing his hands vigorously together. "You
deserve to be commended, Win. Dear heart, as Aunt Debby says, what a
tongue somebody has!"

"I don't care," pouted Winnie, endeavouring to straighten her sash,
which Dick had been using as a handle during the hugging process; "I
only said what was true, and would repeat it all over again if she
cared to listen."

"Bravo! what a hard heart the girl possesses! Cold as an icicle, too,
not to melt under the influence of such dewy tears shed
from--ahem!--'sweetest eyes were ever seen.'"

"Crocodile tears!" (with scorn.) "I don't know how she managed to
squeeze them up. I never saw Ada Irvine weep before. As for
apologizing, I won't, no matter what happens."

"Perhaps your gentle friend had an onion hidden within the folds of
her--_mouchoir_. See how nicely I can speak French. You remember, in
the story of Beauty and the Beast, how the wicked sisters rubbed their
eyes with onions to 'pretend' they were weeping." Dick's eyes were
dancing as he spoke.

Winnie's indignation, however, would admit of no reply, and she sat
silently, like a little bird with its plumage all ruffled; while her
brother, stretched lazily opposite, gazed on the angry face and
soliloquized accordingly.

"Alas for the rarity
Of Christian charity,"

quoth the incorrigible boy. "Come, Win, be magnanimous for once and
forgive. Think what it would be to bask continually in the sunshine of
the lovely Ada's smiles. But there--poor little bird! did I stroke its
pretty feathers all the wrong way, and make it very cross?"

How much more Dick would have said remains a mystery, for Mrs. Blake
interrupted the interesting conversation by her entrance, and commanded
him to leave the room.

"I'll take possession of the door-mat once again," he decided, giving
Winnie an encouraging look as he passed out. "Eavesdropping is a low,
mean thing, I know; but Win may require my assistance, and altogether
it's as well I should be on the spot."

There is no need to d