"I suppose I shall have a husband some day, but there is no need for you to drag him in before-hand, Nurse;" returned Dora with perfect composure, as she tied on her broad-brimmed hat again. The allusion in Garth's presence did not disturb her equanimity in the least; she took it quite as a matter of course. "It is only Nurse's nonsense," she said, turning calmly to Queenie; "if she talked so to the girls it would be different, but nothing matters to me," with a little curl of her lip and a shrug. "I think you must miss your sisters, living here alone?" observed Queenie, by way of changing the subject. "Oh, as to that, papa and I miss them, of course. They are well enough for girls, only they are just at the _gauche_ age, you know; when they are older I shall know better what to do with them." "Then are you never dull?" asked Garth. "I should have thought Flo especially would have left a void in the house, she was so bright and full of fun." "I should have called Flo noisy," exclaimed Dora quietly. "Busy people are never dull; I should have thought you would have found that out by this time." "I know you emulate the busy bee, and improve each shining hour, Miss Dora; but still--" "I suppose you mean to be satirical," with a little scorn. "You men think there is no work done but by yourselves." "Oh, no; I am sure your list of duties must be very long," evidently teasing her, to her father's great delight. "Quite long enough for a woman," she returned, pointedly. "I have my house-keeping, and my schools, and the mothers' meeting, and the penny club, and the coal and blanket fund, and the library, besides odds and ends of business, and all my visiting. Papa and I work together, and in the evening I read to him." "Dora is my right hand," interposed Mr. Cunningham, looking at his girl fondly. "After all men must have some one to help them," returned Dora loftily. She delivered herself of her little speech Parthian-wise, as she rose from the tea-table, turning her shoulder somewhat upon Garth as she did so. "Are we such helpless creatures then?" he asked in a low voice, following her. "Most of you are," she replied calmly. "Miss Marriott, the rain is over, shall we take a turn in the garden?" CHAPTER III. TANGLED. "Women do not like a man the worse for having many favorites, if he desert them all for her. She fancies that she herself has the power of fixing the wanderer; that other women conquer like the Parthians, but that she herself, like the Romans, can not only make conquests, but retain them."--_Colton._