It was fortunate for Regina that she had been in the past accustomed to live her life a good deal to herself. An ordinary wife and mother who started out on a scheme of rejuvenation as elaborate as that of Mrs. Whittaker's would find it extremely difficult to account for the hours which she would have to spend outside her own house. The ordinary young girl in decent society usually has to explain to her mother what she has done with her day, sometimes what she is going to do, and must generally gain permission for any expedition which she desires to make. I have known young girls who considered surveillance to be what they indignantly termed espionage, and I have known much heart burning, much kicking against the pricks from the girls of the family because they were not, like their brothers, free as the wind, to go where they listed. But I must tell my readers that the espionage of mothers over daughters is as nothing compared to the espionage of daughters over a popular mother. In a certain household with which I am intimately acquainted, these are some scraps of conversation which may frequently be heard: "Well, darling, where are you going to-day?" "Oh, I'm going out and about; I want to go along the High Street, and then perhaps I'll go to tea with So-and-So, and I half promised to go to Fuller's to tea with such and such a boy. I'm not going far away. I shall be out and about. Why--do you want me?" "Oh no, dear. Be in by dinner time." On the other hand, this is a scrap or conversation from the same family: "Are you going out to-day, mother?" "Yes." "Where are you going?" "Oh, I'm going out." "Yes, but where?" Then follows a string of questions--"What are you going to do? What are you going to get? What time shall you be in? Do you want me to go with you? Is daddy going with you?" and so on. The simple answer, "I'm going out and about," or "I'm going for a walk," would in no wise serve that mother. If she managed to slip out without her family knowing the exact details of her programme she would certainly have to explain how she had spent every minute of her time when she got home again. "Well, where did you go? Who did you see? Where did you have tea? How many teas did you have? Did you have a good time? Are you tired? Why didn't you let me know you were going? I wanted to go with you." These are only a few of the questions that this particular mother has to answer whenever she happens to go out without attendance; and I say lucky it was for Regina that she had early inculcated the liberty of the subject into the hearts of her daughters twain.