Breakfast was a pleasant meal--full of laughter and anecdotes of the ball, and, laden with Gladstone bags, the young men departed in ones and twos. Frank was going with Willy to London, and when they disappeared among the laurels Sally and Maggie turned indoors, conscious of reaction, and wondering what they should do with the long day that stretched before them. Maggie walked upstairs; she lingered, undecided, and then went down the passage to Frank's room. He had forgotten a shirt stud; on the chest of drawers there was a crumpled white tie and a soiled pair of white gloves. “How careless he is!” she thought, “I must send him this,” and she put the stud in her pocket. She straightened out the gloves and determined to send the necktie to the wash. Next time he came down she would have it to give him, nice, clean, and white--she must see that it was beautifully made up. Then she found his ball programme. He had danced four times with Sally--only twice with her--what a fool she had been; she had wasted her whole evening with that other fellow. It did make her feel so angry. Then the housemaid entered and turned the bed down. “What a lot of washing there will be this week, Gardner.” “There will indeed, miss. Three pairs of sheets, and only slept in once.” “Yes, isn't it a pity? It seems absurd to send these sheets to the wash, doesn't it?” “It do, indeed, miss.” “Absurd!” said Sally, who had just come in. “I want a pair of fresh sheets for my bed. I'll have these.” “No you won't--I was going to take them.” “I should like to know what right you have to them more than I.” “You promised not to interfere with me, and you have done nothing else. You did nothing at the ball but ask him for dances.” “That's a lie! I didn't ask him for a dance. You went off to hide; no one saw anything of you all the evening.” “You mean to say you didn't promise?” “I never promised anything; if I did I should keep my promise. I am not like you. I want a pair of sheets, and I mean to have these.” “They are too big for your bed.” Sally seized the sheet and strove to drag it from Maggie, who, although the weaker, held her own bravely for some time. Finding her strength failing her, she loosed her hold, letting her sister fall against the wall, and taking up the pillow she launched it with her full force. “If you want what he slept in, you can have it all.” “I'll give it to you, my lady,” cried the bully, making a rush round the bed, but Maggie fled through the dressing-room, shutting the door behind her, and locked herself into her room. IX