her thoughts, which was quite different from any other in
the week. The moment she arrived, full of her eager little schemes and
fancies, with all sorts of important news from Easney, Dickie's last
funny saying, how far baby could crawl, and what the boys had been
doing, the quiet old house seemed to brighten up and grow young again.
Echoes of all the little voices which had sounded there long ago woke
from their sleep, and filled the staircase and the sombre rooms with
chatter and laughter.

It made Miss Unity herself feel younger to hear the news, and she soon
found it easy to be really interested in all that Pennie had to tell
her. She proved such an attentive listener, and Pennie, after the
restraint of the dancing-class, was so inclined to be confidential and
talkative, that tea became a most agreeable and sociable meal. Betty,
on her part, honoured the occasion by sending up hot-buttered cakes of
peculiar excellence, which ever afterwards were closely connected with
dancing in Pennie's mind.

As for the class itself, the misery of it was certainly softened as time
went on, but it always remained somewhat of a trial to Pennie, and she
never distinguished herself as a pupil. It was disappointing to find,
too, that the acquaintance with the Merridews from which Miss Unity had
hoped so much, did not advance quickly; she inquired anxiously, after a
few lessons, how Pennie got on with her companions.

"Pretty well," answered Pennie; "I like the look of Sabine best, I
think."

"But she's quite a little thing," said Miss Unity. "Ethel is your age,
is she not?"

Pennie assented with some reserve.

"If you like," said Miss Unity with a great effort, "we might ask Ethel
to come to tea with you and spend the evening on Thursday."

Pennie raised a face of unfeigned alarm from her plate.

"Oh, please not!" she exclaimed pleadingly, "what should we talk about
all the evening? I'm sure we don't like the same things at all--and I'm
sure she wouldn't care about coming either."

So, greatly to Miss Unity's own relief, it was decided once for all that
Ethel should not be asked to tea, and she continued to find increasing
satisfaction in her god-daughter's society.

There was another matter which Pennie had not advanced since her visits
to Nearminster, and that was her acquaintance with Kettles. She neither
saw nor heard anything of her, which was not surprising, since neither
Miss Unity nor the Merridews were likel