I suddenly remembered that I had neglected Augusta a good deal of late; that she had often come to the house and I had hardly spoken to her. I further remembered that, this being the 21st of December, the holidays had begun. Our big school had broken up on the 20th, but the boys' college would break up to-morrow. Christmas would be with us in no time, and Christmas was to be spent in Hedgerow House. That was the treat of all treats which was turning the heads of both the boys. I was to go, Alex was to go, Charley was to go, and Von Marlo was to go. He was alone at the school, and Mrs Grant, with her kind and open-hearted hospitality, had invited him. "It is to be my Christmas present to you all, to have you in my house," she said. "I am sure you will enjoy yourselves vastly." Now surely, with such a prospect in view, any girl would be a perfect goose if she were not happy, and I do not think many girls will sympathise with Rachel Grant at this moment. I was making a martyr of myself because I thought it not right to my mother's memory to receive this new mamma in her place; and yet, if the truth must be told, although I had often pined for my mother, there were days and months, and perhaps even years, when I had forgotten her very existence. She was out of the world before I had time to remember her face. That was my position with regard to my real mother in the past, but from the hour when I had heard that father was about to bring a new wife to the old house, and after he had given me my mother's miniature, I worshipped her, I kept her always in my memory, and I felt that the more I withdrew my heart from the "new mamma," to quote Von Marlo's hideous phrase, the more I showed my love and tenderness for the real mother. Perhaps there are other girls made like that; if so, I should like to show them once for all how exceedingly silly, how exceedingly unpractical and ungrateful, I was. For this story would be worthless if it were not told truthfully. I got over my passion after a time. I kept repeating to myself, "Odious fellow, Von Marlo! The new mamma A1 indeed! A1!" I wished he would not talk to Charley and corrupt him with his wrong ideas. Then I slipped the ten pounds which my step-mother had given me into my purse, and put the purse into my pocket. I dressed myself in the warm clothes which I now had to wear--and which my father, of course, had given me--and I went slowly downstairs. Augusta was waiting in the drawing-room. She was sitting near the fire; she was talking to my step-mother. As I entered the room I heard my step-mother say, "I think it can be managed, Augusta. It would be a great pleasure for you, and if it is really the case that your mother would like to spend Christmas with your uncle Charles, why--Oh, here you are, Dumps!" "Yes; what is it?" I asked. Augusta's sallow face was lit up with a gleam of red on each of her cheeks. This red tint improved her appearance vastly.