, and did not improve at luncheon,
for her wants and whims seemed to engross every one's attention. If
Aunt Katharine tried to turn the conversation to something more
interesting, Philippa's whining voice broke in, and Mrs Trevor at once
ceased to listen to anything else.

It was a relief to the whole party, when, early in the afternoon, Aunt
Katharine and her charges were settled once more in the pony-cart, and
on their way home to Fieldside.

"Don't you know why I poked you just after the race?" said Maisie to her
brother, as they drove out of the lodge gates.

"Because Philippa said such stupid things, I suppose," said Dennis.

"It wasn't that at all," she replied earnestly; "it was because I'd just
thought of a good home for one of the kittens. Wouldn't it be splendid
to give it to Philippa for a birthday present? It will be just three
weeks old."

"H'm," said Dennis doubtfully. He really thought it a capital idea, but
he never liked to encourage Maisie too much.

She looked round at him, her brown eyes bright with excitement.

"It would be a magnificent home," she continued, "_more_ than a good
one. It would have nice things to eat, and soft things to lie on, and a
collar round its neck, and all those beautiful rooms to run about in!"

"I suppose they'd be kind to it," said Dennis. "I don't think _I_
should like to live at Haughton Park."

"Of course not, without Aunt Katharine agreed," said Maisie; "but
supposing Haughton Park was hers, wouldn't you like it better than
Fieldside?"

"No," said Dennis promptly; "not half so well. At Fieldside you've only
to run down the avenue, and there you are in the middle of the village,
and only a short way off the Manor Farm. And at Haughton you have to go
through the Park, where no one lives, and through three gates, and then
you're only in the Upwell road. It's much duller."

"There are the deer," said Maisie.

"But you can't talk to the deer," replied Dennis; "and though they're
tame, they're rather stupid, I think."

"Well," said Maisie, "_I_ like some things at Haughton very much, and I
daresay the kitten will. A cat's quite different from a boy, isn't it?"

"Which shall we give?" asked Dennis, warming a little to the idea.

"The white, _of course_," said Maisie at once.

She spoke so decidedly, that Dennis felt she must have some good reason,
though he could not see why the white should be preferred to the grey.

Maisie could not explain her