"You dear little Eunice, how are you again? Welcome to Yew Hedge. Such a pleasah to see you!" cried Peggy, falling into quite a society drawl in her amiable condescension, and smiling at her friend with a graciousness unaffected by the fact that her own head came barely up to Eunice's ear. It was delightful to have a girl visitor! The worst of Arthur's visits was that he was always running away on some unsociable masculine pursuit, fishing, shooting, and the like, instead of staying at home like a sensible fellow and amusing his sister. But Eunice would be different, for she was the most womanly of womanly women. No shooting-boots for her, no divided skirts, nor hard felt hats! She was a remnant of that good old type of which our mothers and grand mothers were made, timid and nervous in everyday affairs, yet with an unexpected store of courage which showed itself when danger menaced the welfare of those she loved. Peggy felt that she had much to learn from this sweet new friend, and fulfilled her intention of consulting her on household topics on the first possible occasion. She gave a dramatic recital of her misadventures, and once more Eunice proved herself a delightful hearer, for she sighed and groaned at exactly the right points, kept her eyes fixed attentively on the speaker's face, and while confessing the utmost horror at the _contretemps_ described, was convinced that she herself would have fared even worse. "For by your own account, Peggy, you managed extremely well when you did remember. Even cook praised you! Now, I should not forget, because I happen to have a good memory, but I should provide hopelessly badly from first to last. I should have no idea what to order, or how to choose, or make a variety. I have never had anything of the sort to do, you see. We have a housekeeper who looks after all such things, and I am in utter ignorance about them!" Here was a delightful confession! When you have abased yourself before a friend, have confessed your own shortcomings, and braced yourself to bear reproaches, what can be more delightful than to hear that her own ignorance is greater than yours? Peggy was overjoyed to find herself restored to a position of superiority, and as usual made the most of the opportunity. "My love," she croaked, "my love!" and up went both hands in elderly gestures. "But what a lamentable confession! The sphere of a true woman is Home, and it should be her first duty to master those arts which are necessary for its comfort. What hired hands can ever minister to our dear ones so deftly, so efficiently, as those which love has trained and dutiful affection called to service?" Eunice gasped and blinked her eyes, overwhelmed by the flood of Peggy's eloquence, but when she had abstracted the meaning from the high-flown phrase, her expression altered into one of dubious protest.