"I have been thinking," she said, as they sat at breakfast. "There are a great many things to be taken into account. You see, it is in our own parish, at our very doors. The horse-ferry is troublesome, but still it is a thing that is in use both day and night, and there is no danger in it." "Oh, no danger!" cried Jean, who divined what was coming. "It was you I was thinking of, to make your mind easy; for you are the timorous one," Miss Margaret said. "Lilias there, with her eyes leaping out of her head, would wade the water rather than stay at home, and, for my part, I'm seldom afraid. So it's satisfactory, you think; there's no danger, Jean? Well! and, for another thing, if we were to refuse, it might be thought there was a reason for it. That's very likely what would be said. That there was an Inclination, or something that you and me, Jean, had occasion to fear." "It would never do to give anybody a chance of saying that, Margaret," said Jean, with dismay. "That is what I have been thinking," Miss Margaret said. And then Lilias jumped from her chair again, with impatience and wild excitement. "Oh, will you speak English, Margaret, or Scots, or something that one can understand! What do you mean about Reasons and Inclinations? Is it philosophy you are talking--or is it something about the ball?" "You are a silly thing with your balls. You don't know your steps even. You have never had any lessons since you were twelve. I am not going to a ball with a girl that will do me no credit." "Me--not know my steps! And, if I didn't, Katie would teach me. Oh, Margaret! will I go after all?" And Lilias flung herself upon her sister's neck, and spilt Miss Margaret's tea in the enthusiasm of her embrace. The tea was hot, and a much less offence would have been almost capital from any other sinner; but when Margaret felt the girl's soft arms about her neck, and received her kiss of enthusiasm, her attempt at fault-finding was very feeble. "Bless me, child, mind, I have on a clean collar. And you'll ruin my gown: a purple gown with tea spilt upon it! Is that a way of thanking me, to spoil my good clothes? There will be all the more need to take care of them, for you'll want a new frock, and all kinds of nonsense. Sit down--sit down, and eat your egg like a natural creature. And, Jean, you must just give me another cup of tea." "I will do that, Margaret; and, as for the dress, it will be better to write about it at once----" "The dress is not all; there will be shoes, and gloves, and flowers, and fans, and every kind of thing. If you had waited till the right time, we would have been in London, where it is easy to fit out a princess; but I must just write to Edinburgh." "She is a kind of a princess in her way," said Miss Jean, looking fondly at the young heroine. Lilias was touched by all these tender glances, though she felt them to be natural. "I only want a white frock," she said, with humility. "I want to go for fun, not for finery."