Falcon, who had rushed up to the nursery to find his reins and whip,
that he might make a pair of ponies of his little sisters, stopped as he
heard his grandmother say:

"It is great news, and a great victory."

"What battle is it? Tell me, mother, who has been fighting?"

"It was not a battle with swords or guns, Falcon; but when you are a man
you may remember that you heard, when you were a little boy, that on the
nineteenth of September, eighteen hundred and thirty-one, the great
Reform Bill was carried by a number of votes."

"Then will all those angry people we saw when we came home from Fair
Acres be happy and good now. Susan says they shouted 'Reform, Reform,'
because they wanted bread; but I don't know what it means," said Falcon,
thoughtfully. "If it's a good thing, it ought to make people better,
oughn't it, Grannie?"

It was profound philosophy for six years old! The necessary consequence
of good must be something _better_.

Joyce, thinking of those angry faces crowding round her and her babies,
and of the one terrible face which conjured up such a host of dreadful
memories, sighed.

"Ah! Falcon," she said, "good things cannot come all at once--good
results, I mean; but give me a kiss and run away, and mind you give
Grannie no trouble while I am gone." Then Joyce turned for a moment into
the pretty sitting room which Mrs. Arundel occupied. Since Gratian's
marriage she had lived with her son and his wife. She had separate rooms
on the upper floor of the large house, and her own maid. The arrangement
was perfectly harmonious, and the little household was very happy.

"You will not mind letting the children dine with you, dear Grannie?"
Joyce said.

"Mind! it will be a great treat; do not hasten back."

"I thought after dinner, if Piers liked, we would go and see Mrs. More;
he does not get out enough."

"Take a carriage at my expense, dear, and drive to Windsor terrace, and
then over the Downs. It will be a lovely afternoon, and your mother will
enjoy it."

Joyce shook her head.

"I doubt if mother will come; but I will do my best, thank you. Gilbert
will not come home till quite a late dinner--supper, as my mother calls
all meals after six o'clock."

Joyce and Charlotte were soon walking quickly up Park Street, for their
lungs were good and their limbs strong, and Charlotte forgot her
complaints for the time, in the delight of looking in at several shop
windows lately opened in Park Street.