"Where's my peg?" she cried. "If I find any other wretched creature's clothes hanging on my peg, I'll--" then she stopped suddenly, darted forward with a squeal of delight, and closed the door behind her. She was not hidden more than a minute, but in effect it seemed to have been a long, long time, for when the door reopened, the French hat had disappeared, and it was the real old Peggy-Pickle who smiled and nodded and peaked her brows beneath the scarlet cap. "The Tam o' Shanter! Rob has brought it back after all these years. He kept it until you could wear it again. Goodness, how touching! I never thought _you_ would turn sentimental, Rob!" cried Mellicent the tactless, and the next moment devoutly wished she had held her peace, as Rob scowled, Esther pinched her arm, and Peggy trod on her toe with automatic promptness. She turned on her heel and strode back to the dining-room, while Peggy flicked the cap off her head, trying hard to look unconscious, and to continue her investigations as if nothing embarrassing had occurred. "There's the old stain on the floor where I spilt the ink, and the little marks all the way upstairs where the corners of my box took off the paint. Dear, dear, how home-like they look! I must see cook after tea, and Diddums, my sweet little kitten. How is the darling? As pretty and fluffy and playful as ever?" "Peggy dear, do _not_ be silly!" "Esther dear, I cannot help it! I'm too happy to be sensible. Let me be silly for just one day. _What_, is that Diddums? That ugly, lanky, old cat? You've aged terribly, Diddums, since I saw you last. Ah me, ah me, the years tell on us all! Tell me, dear--be faithful!--are you as much shocked at the change in _me_?" Peggy looked up archly, and met Rob's deep, earnest gaze. She put down the cat, rose suddenly, and thrust her hand through Esther's arm. Her cheeks were very pink, her eyes astonishingly bright. Esther looked at her critically, and pursed up her lips in disapproving fashion. Certainly Peggy had grown into a very pretty girl, but it was a thousand pities that she had not yet outgrown the eccentricities of her youth. CHAPTER ELEVEN. When Peggy had been staying a week at the vicarage, her parents came down from town on a two days' visit, especially arranged to give them an opportunity of looking over Yew Hedge. Colonel Saville's scant supply of patience was fast giving out beneath the strain of disappointment, and he declared his intention of buying the first habitable house he saw, while his wife and daughter were reluctantly forced to the conclusion that it was impossible to procure an ancestral estate at the price of a suburban villa. Yew Hedge, therefore, appeared the refuge of the destitute, and a fly being hired from the village inn, and Mrs Asplin invited to take the fourth seat, the little party drove off to inspect the house in mingled hope and fear.