This circumstance was a great advantage to the little Mortimers, who with familiar friendship made themselves at once at home all over Mrs. Nemily's premises, and forthwith set little boats and ships afloat on the brook in the happy certainty that sooner or later they would come down to their rightful owners. Valentine entered the drawing-room, and a glance as he stooped to kiss his sister served to assure him that she knew nothing of the great news. She put her two hands upon his shoulders, and her sweet eyes looked into his. A slightly shamefaced expression struck her. "Does the dear boy think he is in love again?" she thought; "who is it, I wonder?" The look became almost sheepish; and she, rather surprised, said to him, "Well, Val, you see the house is ready." "Yes," he answered, looking round him with a sigh. Emily felt that he might well look grave and sad; it was no common friend that he had lost. "How is John?" she asked. "Why, he was very dull; very dull indeed, when I left him this morning; and natural enough he should be." "Yes, most natural." Then he said, after a little more conversation on their recent loss, "Emily, I came to tell you something very important--to me at least," here the shamefaced look came back. "Oh, no," he exclaimed, as a flash of amazement leaped out of her eyes; "nothing of that sort." "I am glad to hear it," she answered, not able to forbear smiling; "but sit down then, you great, long-legged fellow, you put me out of conceit with this room; you make the ceiling look too low." "Oh, do I?" said Valentine, and he sat down in a comfortable chair, and thought he could have been very happy with Emily, and did not know how to begin to tell her. "I must say I admire your taste, Emily," he then said, looking about him, and shirking the great subject. Emily was a little surprised at his holding off in this way, so she in her turn took the opportunity to say something fresh; something that she thought he might as well hear. "And so John's dull, is he? Poor John! Do you know, Val, the last time I saw him he was very cross." "Indeed! why was he cross?" "It was about a month ago. He laughed, but I know he was cross. St. George and I went over at his breakfast-time to get the key of this house, which had been left with him; and, while I ran up-stairs to see the children, he told St. George how, drawing up his blind to shave that morning, he had seen you chasing Barbara and Miss Green (that little temporary governess of theirs) about the garden. Barbara threw some snowballs at you, but you caught her and kissed her." "She is a kind of cousin," Valentine murmured; "besides, she is a mere child." "But she is a very tall child," said Emily. "She is within two inches as tall as I am. Miss Green is certainly no child." Valentine did not wish to enter on that side of the question. "I'm sure I don't know how one can find out when to leave off kissing one's cousins," he observed.