Advancing years had, however, by no means diminished the girls' powers of conversation; and as they banked up plants in corners of the staircase, and rearranged furniture in the sitting-rooms, the babel of voices was as deafening, and seemingly as inexhaustible, as of yore. "Children, children, be quiet! Stop talking, for mercy's sake!" pleaded Mrs Rendell piteously. "I try to ask a question, and cannot make myself heard. You will make Nan's head ache if you go on like this. Go up to your room to write your letters, Nan dear. Don't attempt to do it here, but take the chance of half an hour's quiet when you can get it." Nan rose obediently, and carried her writing materials upstairs; but it was some time before she sat down at her desk, for the dressing-room door stood open, and therein lay something which exercised an irresistible attraction, something which lay stretched on a sofa, swathed in careful wrappings. Nan drew back the sheet with reverent fingers, and there it lay in all its beauty--a gleaming satin dress, the train folded skilfully in and out, bunches of orange-blossom catching up the lace, which was festooned with as much lavishness as if it had been modest Nottingham, instead of precious Brussels, of that rich mellow tint which comes from age alone. A bride's dress, and a bride's dress fit for a princess, and in the box beside it a veil of the same old lace, and in the safe in the corner a diamond necklace and stars which represented a fortune in themselves!