ost stringent rules, had not been a whit appeased when
he learned that the person to whom his granddaughter was talking was an
imaginary one.

Margaret need not have been afraid that Eleanor would pour ridicule on
her shadowy friend; on the contrary, the latter was too touched by the
picture of the lonely life the other must have led even to smile.

"It really is quite a coincidence that my name is Eleanor, too," she
remarked thoughtfully, "and I am not altogether sure that the name is a
fortunate one for you. You see, the first Eleanor ended by getting you
into fairly hot water, and the second Eleanor, which is me, is in a fair
way to do likewise. But I am glad you told me about the first Eleanor. As
she played such an important part in your life it would never have done
for me to have been in complete ignorance of her existence. Now this is
how I propose we should employ the next half-hour or so. Have you got a
sheet of paper and a pencil? No," as Margaret shook her head. "Well, I
can supply you with both articles. Little did I think," she added, as she
tore a couple of sheets out of her exercise book, and giving one to
Margaret, kept the other for herself, "even in my wildest dreams that the
innocent pages of my copy-book would ever be put to such a purpose as
this. I am going to write down a list of the things about myself that you
ought to know, and I want you to do the same about yourself. Little
things which we would probably forget if we told them to one another, but
which it may prove very useful to have jotted down so that we can refer
to it in case of need. You might write down the date of your birthday,
for instance, your grandfather's, if you know it, and give me a short
description of your house, how many bedrooms it has, and so on, and how
many servants, their names, the name of your clergyman, and the church,
the doctor, any people you know by sight or by name; your governess's
name, how long she was with you, why she left, and how you spent your
days, and any little things of that sort. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I think I do," Margaret said, "for I can see how awkward it would
be if Mrs. Murray asked you any of these things and you could not
answer."

"And on my side," said Eleanor, "I shall write you a short description of
the school, and the names and numbers of the girls, what classes I took,
the names of the governesses, and a short description of Miss McDonald's
appearance, what she usually wor