Mrs. Brenton stood at the window and watched them with a smile till they were out of sight, then sat down to her writing again. "It might be the very thing both for the girl and the children," she mused. Then she opened the little note Betty had brought her from her mother. Camilla wrote in a hurry. "Such a fearful bore!... I have just had a telegram from Violet Lancing, inviting herself to luncheon.... I know what this means! the old story of prying and questioning, all done under a pretence of love for 'poor Ned's children.' Don't, for Heaven's sake, fail to come. I shall feel a little better if you are with me. Oh, how tired I am of being overlooked by these Lancing people! Really, I do think I shall have to do something that will make me free of this worry, at all events. Don't the children look sweet in their new coats? "Ever yours, "Camilla." "P.S.--Of course nurse has gone. Honestly, I should like to try this girl who is with you. She looks capable, and if she has had such a bad time with that Baynhurst woman, I dare say she would manage to rub along here. If you don't think she will do, then, darling, _do_ try and find some one else." Another postscript: "I have half a mind to tell Violet that Miss Graniger is the children's new governess; she is sure to pull a long face if she hears that they are without a nurse. And it would not be _quite_ untrue. What do you think?" CHAPTER VI Out in the Park Caroline found a land of veritable enchantment. The red sun had mounted higher into a clear, cloudless sky, and it endowed the earth with a ruddy suggestion of warmth, but it was merely a suggestion; the keen cold of the air held its own, and the grey bloom of the hoar-frost lay like a veil on the grass. Dennis was left far behind. She had a pinched look, and her nose was red. "Keep on the path, please, Miss Betty," she feebly protested every now and then. But her voice was thin and weak; in any case Betty had no ears for her. She danced, and she sang, and she curveted gracefully on the frost-covered grass. "Isn't it lovely? I want to roll in it!" she declared, as she paused at last and panted for breath. Baby looked up at Caroline with half-shut eyes. "I want a bun," she said plaintively. "A bun!" cried Caroline.... "What _is_ a bun?" Both children exclaimed at this, and then proceeded to volunteer explanations. "You see," Betty said to Baby, and she stooped her flower-like face confidentially to the smaller one, "she can't know as much as me and you, 'cause she was only borned yesterday, and I don't suppose she's ever eated a bun." "Oh!" said Baby, looking at Caroline meditatively. She had such an adorable air, standing with her little head on one side, and her eyes black as sloes, full of mysterious thought, that Caroline was obliged to hug her. After that they had races, and Dennis watched them with pleasure and some envy as she stood shivering in the cold wind.