"Oh, thanks awfully. I'll take mine to your room." Then the door would bang and Hilary's footsteps be heard flying up the staircase, but in less than ten minutes she would be down again with another request. "You don't mind, I suppose, if I take your silver brushes?" "My silver brushes! I should think I _do_ mind, indeed. What next?" "But you never use them. You might just as well lend them to me as leave them lying in their case upstairs." "I am keeping them until I go away visiting. If I don't even use them myself, it's not likely I am going to lend them to anyone else." "Lettice, how mean! What harm could I do to the brushes in a fortnight? You know what a grand house Miss Carr's is, and it would be too horrid for me to go with a common wooden brush. I do think you might lend them to me!" "Oh, well, you can have them if you like, but you are not afraid of asking, I must say! Is there anything else--?" "Not from you; at least, I don't think so just now. But, Norah, I want your bangle--the gold one, you know! Lend it to me, like a dear, won't you?" "If you lose it, will you buy me a new one?" "I won't lose it. I'll only wear it in the evening, and I'll be most awfully careful." "You have a bangle of your own. Why can't you be content with that?" "I want two--one for each arm; they look so nice with short sleeves. I'll put it in my jewel-box, and lock it up safely--" "I haven't said I would lend it to you yet." But Hilary ran away laughing, and gathered brushes and bangles together in triumph. It was on the evening preceding the journey to London that Mr Bertrand came upon his second daughter standing alone in the upstairs corridor, which ran the whole length of the house, pressing her forehead against the panes of the windows. Lettice had been unusually quiet during the last few days, and her father was glad to have the opportunity of a quiet talk. "All alone, dear?" he asked, putting his arm round her waist and drawing her towards him. "I was thinking about you only a few minutes ago. I said on New Year's Day, you remember, that I wanted to give each of you three girls some special little present. Well, Hilary is having this trip with me, and Norah seems in a fair way of getting her wish in the matter of lessons; but what about you? I'll take you with me next time I go away; but in the meantime, is there any little thing you fancy that I could bring back from London town?" "No, thank you, father. I don't want anything." "Quite sure? Or--or--anything I can do for you here, before I go?" "No, thank you, father. Nothing at all." The tone was dull and listless, and Mr Bertrand looked down at the fair face nestled against his shoulder with anxious eyes. "What is it, dear? What is the matter, my pretty one?"