"No; that's just what I say: they are perfectly unlike other girls. They are so fresh, and simple, and unconscious, that it is quite a pleasure to be with them: but if I were to choose a friend from among them I should certainly select Miss Phillis." And to this her brother made no reply. "They are all so pleased about Tuesday," interrupted Mattie, at this point,--"Nan was so interested and amused about my grand tea-party, as she called it. They have all promised to come, only Mrs. Challoner's cold will not allow her to go out this severe weather. And then we met Sir Harry, and I introduced him to Grace, and he will be delighted to come too. I wish you would let me ask Miss Middleton and her brother, Archie; and then we should be such a nice little party." "How can you be so absurd, Mattie?" returned Archie, with a touch of his old irritability. "A nice confusion you would make, if you were left to arrange things! You know the colonel's one object in life is to prevent his son from having any intercourse with the Challoners; and you would ask him to meet them the first evening after his arrival in the place." "Is the father so narrow in his prejudices as that?" asked Grace, who had quite forgotten her own shocked feelings when she first heard that Archie was visiting a family of dressmakers on equal terms. "Oh, dear! I forgot," sighed Mattie, taking her brother's blame meekly, as usual. "How very stupid of me! But would you not like the Cheynes or the Leslies invited, Archie? Grace ought to be introduced to some of the best people." "You may leave Grace to me," returned her brother, somewhat haughtily: "I will take care of her introductions. As for your tea-party, Mattie, I shall be much obliged if you will keep it within its first limits,--just the Challoners and Sir Harry. If any one be asked, it ought to be Noel Frere: he has rather a dull time of it, living alone in lodgings,"--the Rev. Noel Frere being a college chum of Archie's, who had come down to Hadleigh to recruit himself by a month or two of idleness. "Perhaps we had better have him, as there will be so many ladies." "Oh, yes,--of course! He is so nice and clever," observed Grace, not noticing the shade on Mattie's face. "How pleased you must be to have him staying here so long, Archie!--you two were always such friends." "He comes nearly every evening," returned Mattie, disconsolately. "He may suit you, Grace, because you are clever yourself; but I am dreadfully afraid of him, he is so dry and sarcastic. Must he really be asked for Tuesday, Archie?" "Yes, indeed: you ought to have thought of him first. I am sorry for your bad taste, Mattie, if you do not like Frere: he is a splendid fellow, though terribly delicate, I fear. Now, Gracie, if we have finished luncheon, I should like you to put on your wraps, and I will show you some of my favorite haunts; and perhaps we shall meet Frere."