“Because you are really too idiotic. You see, Mr. Jones, anything that is old and fusty, and has to do with old fogies who are dead and gone centuries ago, has the greatest charms for my sister. She would like to go home and make stories about those bones: whose they were, and what they did, and all the rest of it. She calls it imagination; I call it fudge.” Eva flushed up, but said nothing; evidently she was not accustomed to answer her elder sister, and presently they parted to go their separate ways. “What a great oaf that Jeremy is!” said Florence to her sister on their homeward way. “I did not think him an oaf at all,” she replied, warmly; “I thought him very nice.” Florence shrugged her square shoulders. “Well, of course, if you like a giant with as much brain as an owl, there is nothing more to be said. You should see Ernest; he is nice, if you like.” “You seem very fond of Ernest.” “Yes, I am,” was the reply; “and I hope that when he comes you won’t poach on my manor.” “You need not be afraid,” answered Eva, smiling; “I promise to leave your Ernest alone.” “Then that is a bargain,” said Florence, sharply. “Mind that you keep to your word.” CHAPTER VI. JEREMY FALLS IN LOVE Jeremy, for the first time for some years, had no appetite for his dinner that day, a phenomenon that filled Dorothy with alarm. “My dear Jeremy,” she said afterwards, “what can be the matter with you? you had only one helping of beef and no pudding!” “Nothing at all,” he replied sulkily; and the subject dropped. “Doll,” said Jeremy presently, “do you know Miss Eva Ceswick?” “Yes, I have seen her twice.” “What do you think of her, Doll?” “What do you think of her?” replied that cautious young person. “I think she is beautiful as—as an angel.” “Quite poetical, I declare! What next? Have you seen her?” “Of course, else how should I know she was beautiful?” “Ah, no wonder you had only once of beef!” Jeremy coloured. “I am going to call there this afternoon; would you like to come?” went on his sister. “Yes, I’ll come.” “Better and better; it will be the first call I ever remember your having paid.” “You don’t think she will mind, Doll?” “Why should she mind? Most people don’t mind being called on, even if they have a pretty face.” “Pretty face! She is pretty all over.” “Well, then, a pretty all over. I start at three; don’t be late.” Thereupon Jeremy went off to beautify himself for the occasion, and his sister gazed at his departing form with the puzzled expression that had distinguished her as a child. “He’s going to fall in love with her,” she said to herself, “and no wonder; any man would: she is ‘pretty all over,’ as he said, and what more does a man look at? I wish that _she_ would fall in love with him _before Ernest comes home;_” and she sighed.