The Grey Lady

on dit tout n'est pas la m

and sat down before her be

h the next. In the last-mentioned class of establishment the young people get up early and have very little material food to eat. So Mrs. Ingham-Baker wisely sent her daughter to the worldly school. This astute lady knew that girls who get up very early to attend public worship in the dim hours, and have poor meals during the day, d

hful backs were straightened out by some process which the writer, not having been educated at a girls' school, cannot be expected to detail. They were given excellent meals at healthy hours, and the reprehensible habits of the lark were treated with contumely. They were given to understand that it was good to be smart always,

s was wont to say with a complacen

imes, where further social events have precedence. But that was entirely Agatha's fault. She came, and she saw, but she had not hitherto seen anything worth conquering. So many of her school friends had married on the impulse of the moment for mere sentim

was dimly grateful to her mother for having foreseen th

brushed her hair, for she was deeply absorbed. There

in!" cri

Ingham-Baker, stout and cringing, i

t your fire, dear?" she inqui

"is because you are a

y that she came on tiptoe, her build not warranting that mode of progression. Agatha watched her without surprise. M

the Count plays!"

ly!" answe

thinking of Cipr

n affection which their appearance certainly did not warrant. There was a suggestion of bygo

he said, "that he wi

ossed her

hink any one w

mit defeat. Mrs. Ingham-Baker sighed

ch!--a palace in Ba

l respect which our grandmothers were pleased to affect. There was nothing old-

ould have any one of them by the mere raising of her little finger. Her attitude towards her daughter was that of an old campaigner who, having done

ance that the younger and abler general at the front was about to alter the o

to take to Luke," said

y, for she was well in hand--"wonderfully so! Poor Fit

d the young lady. "Did she say anything to yo

ds the door, and drew her dress

manly and simple, and all that. And she quite agreed with me. I said that per

ean by that?"

nd what his prospects are. She said she knew nothing about his salary, but that his prospects were quite a different matter. I pretended I did not know what she mea

ery well," the younger and more sc

re that Luke would deserve anything he got; that of course it was different for Fitz,

ments with the brush on her lap looking into the fi

ruck with you," said

ll command very far in the rear. She neve

?" said the girl

sure o

brushing he

so?" she inquired th

you when you were playing

aw that her mother was still admiring her bedroom slippers. Then she looked at the reflection of her own face with the smooth h

with an obvious change of the subject which Mrs. Ingham-Bake

thi

e back and

xactly what you have told me, abou

ui

s. There was apparently a cowl on the chimney connected with Agatha's room,

nees. Her hair hung almost to the ground. She was looking into the coals

d the girl sudde

my dar

ept the Danefor

o to

o go to

younger, keener tactician did not seem to demand an answer to her supposition. She proceeded to follo

ould be a pleasant change

aker reflecte

oonah with Luke," she

e-

s. Ingham-Baker rose and ba

oughts of maturity, inasmuch as they rise higher into happiness and descend deeper into misery. Agatha Ingham-Baker knew that she had her own life to shape, with only such blundering, well-meant assistance

ccessful. Why should no

gham-Baker took an opportunity of ask

sery India. I have known girls marry at Malta, but

ngham-Baker, "is exactl

" inquired Mrs. Harrington

not quite the place one would l

iews one may have respecting one's daughter

isfaction. But she was beginning to get a little tired of the homage of the pavement. Those who turned to glance a second time never came back to offer her a heart and a fortune. She was perhaps beginnin

Malta, dear," exclaimed Mrs. Ingham-Baker

ieve i

aid Mrs. Ingham-Baker volubly. "It would be so nice to get a

little shiver

really warm," she said. "But

t very much after the first two

of those with two funnels?" put in Mrs. Ingham

ness. There was a subtle suggestion of finality in her

ve reached

am-Baker doubtfully, "that

am t

atha carelessly, "that one s

urned on her like

well officered as anot

en as the older fencer--looked Mr

he is a good officer. But one always feels doub

Mrs. Harrington, tu