"Sit down, child. How queerly you speak! You have very good eyes, let me tell you, child--fine, expressive, interesting eyes." Priscilla did not seem to hear, and Lady Lushington was more impressed by this fact than she had been yet by anything she had discovered about her. "There are the clothes," said Priscilla, bursting into the heart of her subject, and interlacing her long fingers tightly together. "I--you will forgive me--but I am too proud to wear them. I cannot, Lady Lushington. If you won't have me shabby as I am--and I am sure I am very shabby--I cannot come with you. You will be so exceedingly generous as to let me have my fare back to Lyttelton School, and I shall always thank you for your best of best intentions. But I cannot wear clothes that I have not earned, and that I have no right to." "But Annie Brooke?" interrupted Lady Lushington. "I am not here to answer for Annie Brooke," replied Priscilla with great dignity. "If you want me, you must take me as I am." "I declare," said Lady Lushington, "you are a queer creature. And you really mean it?" "Yes--absolutely. It is just because I am too proud. I have no right to my pride, perhaps; still, I cannot let it go." There was a world of pathos in Priscilla's eyes now as they fixed themselves on the worldly face of the lady. "You are quaint; you are delightful," said Lady Lushington. "Come as you are, then. You will perhaps not be too proud to allow Parker to arrange your hair so as to show off that fine head of yours to the best advantage. But even in rags, child, come with us; for any one fresh like you, and unselfconscious like you, and indifferent to outward appearance like you, carries a charm of her own, and I do believe it is beyond the charm of dress." When Lady Lushington had uttered these words Priscilla went up to her and took her hand, and suddenly, before the great lady could prevent her, she raised that hand to her lips and kissed it. Then she hurried from the room. CHAPTER SIXTEEN. A DELICIOUS DINNER. After a time Annie Brooke and Mabel Lushington joined Lady Lushington in their smart dresses. Mabel looked most imposing in her pretty pink silk, and no one could look fresher and more charming than Annie in the white lace and muslin which fitted her trim little figure so nicely. Lady Lushington was standing very much in the same position in which she had been when Priscilla left her. She turned now as the two girls entered. There was a frown between her brows, and she scarcely glanced at either of them. "Come, come," she said crossly, "how much longer must I be kept waiting? We will go down in the lift, Mabel; you lead the way."