ecause he is
nobody, and he never interferes with our friends.

"Now I am taking it for granted that you will not refuse me, so
I will proceed to tell you our arrangements. Mamma and I have
been in town the last five weeks, and we are both of us tired to
death of Vanity Fair, so we mean to go back to Oatlands next
week. You may come to us as soon after that as you like; fix
your own day and your train, and I will be at the station to
meet you.

"I remain, yours most sincerely,
"EDNA SEFTON."

"Oh, Bessie, how delightful! But I don't like to spare you again so
soon."

"Now, Hatty, don't be selfish. You must not grudge Bessie the first real
treat she has ever had offered to her. We have none of us had such a
chance before. Fancy staying at a place like The Grange, and seeing lots
of nice people."

"I wish you could go in my place, Chrissy, dear. I am not quite sure how
I should like staying with strange people; we have got into homely ways,
never going anywhere except to Aunt Charlotte's or Uncle Charles', and
I don't know how I should get on with rich people like the Sefton's;
besides, father and mother may not wish me to accept the invitation,"
glancing at her mother's thoughtful face.

"We must see what your father says about it," returned Mrs. Lambert,
rousing herself with difficulty from her abstraction. "I would not talk
about it any more, girls, until we know his wishes. It will only
disappoint Bessie if she makes up her mind that she would like to accept
the invitation, and father thinks it wiser to refuse. Let us put it out
of our heads until he comes home, and he and I will have a talk about
it."

"Yes, that will be best," returned Bessie, putting the letter in the
envelope. "Father will not be home until late, but that does not matter;
to-morrow will do quite well." And, to her sister's surprise and
disappointment, she refused to say any more on the subject.

"Mother is quite right," she observed, as Hatty fussed and grumbled at
her silence. "If we talk about it, I shall just long to go, and shall be
vexed and disappointed if father wishes me to refuse."

"But you might coax him to change his mind. Father never likes
disappointing us when we set our hearts on anything," urged Hatty.

"No, indeed; I never like arguing things with father. He is not one to
make up his mind in a hurry, like some people; he thinks over a thing
thoroughly, and then he