"Oh, haven't I, though! Shows how little you know," cried Madge darkly. "I have never been out of it since I was eight years old. The first one was Tommy Egerton. Do you remember those Egertons who took The Chase for a year? Tommy was the little boy who wore a fawn coat with a sealskin collar, and dear little brown gaiters. I doted on him! And one day his mother brought him to call, and I had on a soiled pinafore. Oh, my feelings! I consider that my character has been warped for life by the humiliation I endured that afternoon. Then there was that freckled boy who used to send me valentines:-- "The rose is red, the violet blue, And sugar's sweet, and so are you. "Dear, dear, how bashful I felt the first time I met him after that special valentine arrived! Then there was the curate who spoke through his `dose.' That was the love that was born of pity! Every one abused him, so there arose in my heart that almost maternal tenderness and compassion which is inseparable from the love of every good woman. Ahem!" Madge glanced up with dancing eyes, then grew grave again and added slowly, "And now there's that student at the Slade School. I asked him some questions the other day, and he was _so_ kind! He has a lovely chin. I expect we shall be great friends. Look at Philippa growing pale with anxiety." "It's all very well," cried Philippa irritably. "I like young men myself, and wish we knew many more than we do, but we _must_ be careful. I hope you girls will not make any friends until you have had time to judge whether they are the sort of people we ought to know. I don't want to preach. I hate preaching. It is very hard to be in the position when it falls to me to say all the disagreeable things, but, situated as we are, we can hardly be too particular. We want to make friends who will be a help to us, not a hindrance, and whose influence can never be hurtful to Barney when he is with us."