"Ah, my dearie!" she said, "the days are turning a bit nippy for the time of year, and I thought you would be lonesome all by yourself in your bedroom. Come along and sit by the fire for a bit, won't you, lovy? and I'll warm you up a cup of good broth. I have some lovely and tasty in the pantry. Then maybe you'd help me to make a list of the glass and china and the old silver. There's a quantity of old silver, and most beautiful it is; and it's all yours, dear. Whenever you start a house of your own, you won't have to go far to seek for means of making it pretty. There'll be the silver and the china, and that magnificent Crown Derby dinner-set that your precious uncle took such pride in; and there'll be the great branch candlesticks--old Sheffield they are, and very valuable; and there'll be the beautiful house linen-- such linen as is not to be found anywhere else in the country-side. You won't be so bad off when you settle down with your good man, Miss Annie." "I'll never have a good man," said Annie in a petulant tone. "Nothing would induce me to marry. I hate the thought of it." "Poor lamb!" said Mrs Shelf; "you are but a baby yet; but the time will come--you mark my words." Annie made no reply. She gazed drearily into the fire. She was wondering how she could circumvent old Shelfy, who might, if she chose, prove a sad hindrance to her getting away before Saxon's return. "Shelfy," she said, "don't let's bother about the old things now. I tell you what: I'll go into the dining-room and write some letters--oh no! I couldn't go near his study. I'll just go into the dining-room and stay there for an hour or two; and then, if you will give me some lunch early, I will come and help you in the kitchen soon after that; but I don't feel up to it this morning. When did John Saxon say he would be back, Shelfy?" "Not to-night, darling, but some time to-morrow for sure. He's a very good young man, is Mr John." "Well, Shelfy, you know I hate good young men," said Annie. Instead of reproving her, Mrs Shelf laughed. "I declare, now," she said, "that speech of yours, naughty as it is, is more like your old self than anything I have heard you utter since you came back. But you mustn't turn against Mr Saxon, lovy, for he is just the best of the best, and sets store by you; any one can see that." "Well, I will go into the dining-room now," said Annie; and she went out of the kitchen.