The girls came gracefully forward and kissed her warmly. "_Dear_ 'Lena," said Miss Montgomery. "We wouldn't wait: we wanted so much to see you again. And besides, you know," with a mischievous smile, "we owe you a great many luncheon calls." Miss Brannan exclaimed almost simultaneously, "How you have improved, 'Lena! I should never have known you." And if her tone was conventional, it fell upon ears untuned to conventions. It was Magdalena's first compliment, and she thrilled with pleasure. "My face looks very much the same in the glass," she said. "But I am glad to see you back. Let us sit on this side." She led the girls a little distance down the verandah; she was trembling inwardly, but felt that she should get along better if relieved of her mother's ear. Tiny began at once to talk of her delight in being home again, and Magdalena had time to recover herself. Tiny Montgomery was an exquisitely pretty little creature, very small but admirably proportioned, although thin. Her brown eyes were very sweet under well-pencilled brows, her nose aquiline and fine. The mouth was barely rubbed in, but the teeth were beautiful, the smile as sweet as the eyes. She had the smallest feet and hands in California, and to-day they were clad in white _suede_ with no detriment to their fame. She wore a frock of white embroidered nainsook and a leghorn covered with white feathers. She talked rather slowly, in language carefully chosen, although plentifully laden with superlatives. Her voice was very sweet, and highly cultivated. Ila Brannan was taller, with a slender full figure, and very smart. She wore a closely fitting frock of tan-coloured cloth, a small toque, and a veil covered with large velvet dots. She was very olive, and her cheeks were deeply coloured. Her black eyes had a slanting expression. Young as she was, there was a vague suggestion of maturity about her. She smiled pleasantly and echoed Tiny's little enthusiasms, which had an air of elaborate rehearsal, but she seemed to have brought something of Paris with her, and to adapt herself but ill to her old surroundings. Magdalena did not feel at ease with either of them, but concluded that she liked Tiny best. "Tell me something of Helena," she said finally. "Of course you saw her in Paris." "Oh, constantly," replied Tiny. "She's perfectly beautiful, 'Lena, _perfectly_. Mamma took her with us one night to the opera, and so many people asked her who the beautiful American was. She has grown _quite_ tall, and is wonderfully stylish. Colonel Belmont has simply showered money on her since he went over, and she will have beautiful clothes, and cut us _all_ out when she comes back." But Tiny did not look in the least disturbed, and peeped surreptitiously into the polished glass of the window.