The Heather-Moon

in Mrs. MacDonald's house-hold. At that time, just as the hour was announced by an old friend, the grandfath

y on principle, partly because it was known to have been chosen by "that woman." "Barribel, by y

panel, "I'll open the door if you

Miss Hepburn and Barrie finished they always, as a matter of form, asked to be excused, though they both knew, and Mrs. MacDonald knew that they knew, how more than willing she was to be left alone with her book. At a quarter past nine the servants were called, they having already supped on bread and cheese. A chapter, preferably from the Old Testament, was read, a prayer offered up, and at nine-thirty precisely the family was ready to go to bed. Miss Hepburn had reason to believe that for three quarters of an

roper mingling of kindness and di

ng pair of hands. She wore her hair very flat on her head, which was flat behind; and just at the nape of the neck was a flat drab-tinted knot, of almost the same grayish-yellowish brown as her complexion. On her flat breast was a flat brooch with a braid of pale hair as a background. Even her vo

een sufficiently punished," she announced, "

e's punished me, she may. I don't care. She couldn't have made me come out of my room to-day if she tr

't come to talk. I am here simply to see you

have tempted her to burn gas after ten o'clock, when at latest all lights had to be out. Now, Janet Hepburn brought a box of matches on the tray; and the gas, when lit, showed the sparsely furnished room with its gray-painted, pictureless wall, against

ss Hepburn, "and Mrs. Muir has baked you a potato, but I am not sure whethe

hank Mrs. Muir for

hank her t

Do thank her for me to-ni

ou in such

because.

s, when she is shutting up the

u know about my mother. You weren't here when she was, but you're a

ly to her stiff dignity, despite the pleading voice and the "dear, dear Heppie," against which, be

girl. "You're the one person in the hous

instinct, for Barrie had no experience in the

and wished to have the child christened the same, she insisted on Barribel. It seems that is an old Scottish name also, or

d then had nobody who would use it except herself? When I talk to myself I always say 'Barrie,' in different tones of voice, to hear how

urned decorously, half alarmed at so pronounced a betraya

" Barrie pleaded. "Was my moth

I understand-a

er than I am. And she stood two

you forge

bout my mother. Twenty-twenty-one; th

n. Of course, it i

se. Could even you blame her for wanting to run a

f American,

e it even harder for her to stand Grandma-and ever

ng her loving husband

ng it. I'm sure he was good. But so is Grandma good-horribly good. There's something about this house that spoils goodness, and turns it to a kind of poison. It must have been awfully depressing to be married to fat

should she endeavour by prayer and example to eradicate its faults in bringing it up. At least, so I have alw

ather gave me. Grandma let me keep it because it came from him, and I did love it dearly! I do still. I lear

not say such things. I

nd then she began to be an actress, and was so busy she never had time to learn much about children and duty and that sort

iss Hepburn inq

id! Grandma let it out that she's alive. She's not even old

sad pleasure in the sins of another, so different from her own

e the greatest succe

I always skip news of the theatre in re

s, and perhaps even her pictures! I wish I'd known! I'd have got at the papers somehow be

and her own pallid copies of those convictions. "No really nice girl ever reads the newspap

ept her married name for the

s greatest trial-except your father's death. To think that the name of her s

s call hersel

s asking me any more questions, for I shall not ans

. Thank you so much for talking to me, and being so kind.

led out. "I try to do my duty both to your grandmother and you," she returned. "I really must go now, and I shall not have to lock your door aga

following the small, stiff figure to th

est, be very ill. Still, there was no real impropriety in an ex-governess kissing her late pupil; and possibly the desire revealed a spirit of repentance and meekness on the part of Barribel, which deserved to be encouraged. Without spoken questions, therefore, Miss Hepburn pecked with her unkissed virgin lips the firm pink sati

ownstairs in a few minut

r, and Miss Hepburn

made up and lying on the floor of the wardrobe was another parcel, very much bigger, rolled in dark green baize which might have been a small table cover. From a shelf Barrie snatched a tam-o'-shanter, also a dark green in colour. Absent-mindedly she pulled it over her head, and the green brightened the copper red of her hair. Slipping her arms into the sleeves of the queer cloak, she caught up her bundle, t