He was about to refuse her request when a new idea occurred to him. After all, it was not much to do for Sophy, who had been so devoted to him ever since his accident. She had run up and down stairs for him forty times a day. In fact, she had gone to the house a short time ago when he had expressed a wish for the opera-glass, and had brought it to him, and again for a book on birds. She never refused to do what he asked; on the contrary, she was eager to please him. Peter handed her the glass. “Look right up the trunk of the tree, Soph,” he said kindly, “till you get to the second branch from the top to the right, and a little way along that, leaning up against a small branch that isn’t much more than a twig, is the robin’s nest. Do you see? With all those heads sticking out. They’re getting hungry, I guess, for the old birds haven’t been back for ten minutes at least. They hear us talking, I suppose, and are afraid to come. Keep very quiet, now, if you’ve found the nest, and watch.” Sophy, greatly pleased, peered up into the tree and waited. She had scarcely dared hope that Peter would allow her to look, and her heart was filled with an overpowering love for the brother who was so good to her. It was a little thing for him to do, perhaps, but Peter felt happier than if he had declined to point out the nest to Sophy, and even though it did take her a long time to find it, and though she turned the screw to and fro in her efforts to see better, and retained possession of the glass for at least ten minutes, he was glad on the whole that he had lent it to her. Victoria sat upon the grass, absent-mindedly poking a hole in the ground with a bit of stick that she had found, and thinking about the very disturbing topic that had been suggested to her by her aunt. She did not pay much attention to the remarks about Dave Carney, for she considered her aunt a very prejudiced person who had objected to the boy’s presence at Glen Arden from the first. The news about Katherine was far more alarming, and while she thought about it the sound of voices was heard in the distance, and the very persons of whom she was thinking were seen coming down the avenue towards the group under the trees. “Dear me,” exclaimed Peter, impatiently, “here they all come! Now I shall have no chance at the birds at all. Mr. Madison is an awfully good fellow, but I wish he had stayed away this afternoon.” Victoria’s glance chanced to rest upon Honor at this moment, and she was surprised to see a peculiar expression cross her face and the color deepen in her cheeks. She wondered if Aunt Sophia’s absurd ideas about Katherine and Roger Madison could possibly have occurred to her as well. In that case, perhaps they were not so absurd. She really thought she must talk to Honor about it that very night. There could be no harm in doing so, and she felt that she was incapable of bearing the burden of two secrets.