"I don't say it is, Kate," I replied eagerly. "Then answer." I was obstinately silent. "Will you tell me?" she asked, much incensed. "No," I resolutely replied. She rose in great wrath, and consigned me to the back-parlour for the rest of the day. Never did punishment sit so lightly on me. Towards dusk Miss O'Reilly opened the door, that I might not feel quite alone. Cornelius came home much later than usual; I sat in the dark, but I could see him; he had thrown himself down on the sofa; the light of the lamp fell full on his face; his look wandered around the room in search of me. "She has been naughty," gravely said his sister; and she proceeded to relate my offence. "She would not tell you?" he observed. "No, indeed! I tried her again in the afternoon; but she stood before me, white with stubbornness, her lips quite closed, hanging down her head, and as mute as a stone." "She is a peculiar child," quietly said Cornelius, and I could see his gaze seeking to pierce the gloom in which I had lingered. "Peculiar! you had better call it originality." Cornelius laughed; and half raising himself up on one elbow, summoned me in with a "Come here, Daisy!" that quickly brought me to his side. He pushed back the hair from my forehead, looked into my face, and said, gravely, "She looks stubborn; I see it in her eyes, and yet what wonderfully fine eyes they are, Kate!" "Eyes, indeed!" was her indignant rejoinder. "Daisy, go back to your room." I turned away to obey, but Cornelius called me back. "Let me try my power," he said to his sister; then to me, "Daisy, tell Kate what I whispered to you." "Remember!" was my ready reply. "How can you call her stubborn?" asked Cornelius. "Remember--what?" inquired Kate; "there, do you see how she won't answer?" "You obstinate child!" said Cornelius, smiling, "don't you see I mean you to speak? Say all; tell Kate why I bade you remember." "I was not to tell you that I had found him drawing," I said, turning to Miss O'Reilly. Her work dropped on her knees; she turned very pale; her look, keen and troubled, at once sought the calm face of her brother, who had again sunk into his indolent attitude, with his hand carelessly smoothing my hair. Miss O'Reilly tried to look composed, and observed, in a voice which all her efforts could not prevent from being tremulous and low, "Oh! you were drawing, Cornelius, were you?" "Yes," he carelessly replied, "it amuses me in the morning." "Oh, it amuses you very much, Cornelius?" "Why, yes." She took up her work; laid it down, rose, went up to her brother, and standing before him said, resolutely, "Cornelius, tell me the truth." He sat up, and making her sit down by him, he calmly observed, "Why do you look so frightened, Kate?" "The truth!" she exclaimed, almost passionately, "the truth!" "You have had it." "What does that morning drawing mean?" "You know it." "You mean to become an artist?"