-fashioned cottage, with a big roomy porch well covered with
honeysuckle and sweet yellow jasmine, and a sitting-room on either side
of the door, with one small-paned window, which was certainly not filled
with plate-glass. It was a snug, bowery little place, and the fresh
dimity curtains at the upper windows, and the stand of blossoming plants
in the little passage, gave it a cheerful and inviting aspect. The tiny
lawn was smooth as velvet, and a row of tall white lilies, flanked with
fragrant lavender, filled up the one narrow bed that ran by the side of
the privet hedge.

As Audrey unlatched the little gate she had a glimpse of Mr. O'Brien in
his shirt-sleeves. He was smoking in the porch, and so busily engaged in
reading his paper that Audrey's light tread failed to arouse him, until
a plaintive and fretful voice from within made him turn his head.

'Father, aren't you ashamed to be sitting there in your shirt-sleeves
when Miss Ross has come to call? And it is 'most four o'clock,
too--pretty near about tea-time.'

'Miss Ross--you don't say so, Prissy!' returned Mr. O'Brien, thrusting
an arm hastily into the coat that his daughter was holding out in an
aggressively reproachful manner. 'How do you do, Miss Ross? Wait a
moment--wait a moment, until I can shake hands with you. Now, then, the
other arm, Prissy. You are as welcome as flowers in May--and as blooming
too, isn't she, Prissy?' and Mr. O'Brien enforced his compliment with a
grasp of the hand that made Audrey wince.

'I expected a scolding--I did indeed,' laughed Audrey, 'instead of this
very kind welcome. It is so long since my last visit; is it not, Mr.
O'Brien?'

'Well, ma'am, tell the truth and shame the devil; that's my motto. I'll
not deny that Prissy and I were wondering at your absence. "What's
become of Miss Ross?" she said to me only to-day at dinner, "for she has
not been near us for an age."'

'And I was right, father, and it is an age since Miss Ross honoured us
with a visit,' replied his daughter in the plaintive tone that seemed
natural to her. 'It was just five weeks ago, for Susan Larkins had come
up about the bit of washing her mother wished to have, so I remember the
day well.'

'Five weeks!' responded Audrey with a shake of her head; 'what a memory
you have, Mrs. Baxter, and, dear me, how ill you are looking; is there
anything the matter?' looking from one to the other with kindly
scrutiny.

Mr. O'Brien and his daughter were comple