"I wish Olive hadn’t been yesterday, now," she mused; "because there is not the faintest chance of her coming over again to-day; she said she would come to-morrow if she could. Oh, dear! I do think some of the girls might come. I’d rather have Elsa, or even that little Amethyst Drury, than nothing but my own company all day long. I do wish I could have a dog, it would not be so sickeningly dull then." And she heaved a weary sigh of discontent. "What a nuisance this horrid sprain is! You simply can’t do anything but read, when you can’t move your leg, and I hate needlework. I’m glad I thought of getting Mary Ann to go for some fresh books. Heigho! I wish I hadn’t hurried so over the last one yesterday, I should have had some left to read now, but it was so fascinating I couldn’t leave off once I began." At that moment a footfall was heard on the richly carpeted stairway, and Mrs. Beauchamp opened the door. Monica looked up in astonishment; it was quite an hour earlier than her grandmother usually paid her morning visit. "Good morning, Monica," she said, as she bent and just touched the girl’s forehead with cold, undemonstrative lips, "I hope your ankle is going on well." "Oh, I suppose it is, but I wish it had never been ill," replied Monica with grim humour. "I’m sick of lying here." "You have only yourself to blame," was the old lady’s unconsoling reply; "if you had not been disobedient, all this would have been avoided." And she waved her slender white hand expressively towards Monica’s injured limb. With a pout, Monica looked out of the window, muttering something about "the same old tale." Her grandmother, who was slightly deaf, did not catch the words, but she saw the gesture, and drew her own conclusions. With a sigh, Mrs. Beauchamp wished, for the hundredth time, that she had never undertaken the charge of this troublesome granddaughter; her coming into the prim household had made an end of all its restful quiet, and she never seemed free from anxiety about her. And yet--Conrad had intreated her so earnestly to have his only and much-loved child, and at the time she had seemed tractable enough. But oh! how greatly Monica had altered in eighteen short months; perhaps she had had mistaken ideas about her upbringing; perhaps, if she had been a little less strict in minor matters, things might have gone more smoothly; perhaps old Dr. Marley was right when he said: "It is easier to lead than to drive young people." With these thoughts in her mind, the old lady made a proposition that nearly took Monica’s breath away; so unexpected was it. "I have been thinking that perhaps you might have a small dog of some kind, Monica; it would be company for you while you are laid up."