Mr. Leigh was quite aware of the truth of Mrs. Argand's prophecy; but he enjoyed the spoiling of his daughter, which she had foretold, and he enjoyed equally the small tyrannies which the child exercised over him, and also the development of her mind as the budding years passed. "Papa," she said one day, when she had asked him to take her somewhere, and he had pleaded, "business," "why do you go to the office so much?" "I have to work to make money for my daughter," said her father, stating the first reason that suggested itself. "Are you not rich enough now?" "Well, I don't know that I am, with a young lady growing up on my hands," said her father smiling. "Am I very expensive?" she asked with a sudden little expression of gravity coming over her face. "No, that you are not, my dear--and if you were, there is no pleasure on earth to me like giving it to you. That is one of my chief reasons for working so steadily, though there are others." "I have plenty of money," said Eleanor. "Then you are happier than most people, who don't know when they have plenty." "Yes--you see, all I have to do when I want anything is to go into a store and ask for it, and tell them I am your daughter, and they let me have it at once." "Oh ho!" said her father, laughing, "so that is the way you buy things, is it? No wonder you have plenty. Well, you'd better come to me and ask for what you want." "I think the other is the easier way, and as you say you like to give it to me, I don't see that it makes any difference." Mr. Leigh decided that he had better explain the difference. "I hate rich people," said Eleanor suddenly. "They are so vulgar." "For example?" enquired her father looking with some amusement at the girl whose face had suddenly taken on an expression of severe priggishness. "Oh! Aunt Sophia and Milly McSheen. They are always talking about their money." Mr. Leigh's eyes were twinkling. "You must not talk that way about your Aunt Sophia--she is very fond of you." "She is always nagging at me--correcting me." "She wants you to grow up to be a fine woman." "Like her?" said Miss Eleanor pertly. Mr. Leigh felt that it was wise to check this line of criticism, and he now spoke seriously. "You must not be so critical of your Aunt. She is really very fond of you--and she was your mother's half-sister. You must respect her and love her." "I love her, but I don't like her. She and Milly McSheen are just alike--always boasting of what they have, and do, and running down what others have, and do." "Oh, well, it takes a great many people to make a world," said Mr. Leigh indulgently. Eleanor felt a want of sympathy and made another bid for it. "Milly McSheen says that her father is going to be the richest man in this town." "Ah! who is talking about money now?" said Mr. Leigh, laughing. "I am not--I am merely saying what she said." "You must not tell the silly things your friends say."