But in a day or two this feeling wore off. He was so kindly and friendly in manner, that she was emboldened to laugh at the recollection of the tone in which he had alluded to her elaborately-dressed hair and long dresses, and to devise a way of surprising him. She came down one day to afternoon tea in an old school-girlish dress of blue serge, rather short about the ankles, a red and white pinafore, and a crimson sash. Her hair was loose about her neck, and had been combed over her forehead in the fashion in which she wore it in her childish days. Thus attired, she looked about fourteen years old, and the shy way in which she glanced at the company from under her eyelashes, added to the impression of extreme youth. To carry out the character, she held a battledore and shuttlecock in her hand. "Kitty, are you rehearsing for a fancy ball?" said Mrs. Heron. "No, Isabel. I only thought I would try to transform myself into a little girl again, and see what it felt like. Do I look very young indeed?" "You look about twelve. You absurd child!" "Is the battledore for effect, or are you going to play a game with it?" asked Rupert, who had been surveying her with cold criticism in his eyes. "For effect, of course. Don't you think it is a very successful attempt?" she said, looking up at him saucily. He made no answer. Elizabeth wanted the tea-kettle at that moment, and he moved to fetch it. Hugo Luttrell, however, who was paying a call at the house, was ready enough with a reply. "It could not be more successful," he said, looking at her admiringly. "I suppose"--in a lowered tone--"that you looked like this in the school-room. I am glad those days are over, at any rate." "I am not," said Kitty, helping herself to bread and butter. "I should like them all over again--lessons and all." She stole a glance at Rupert, but his still face betrayed no consciousness of her remark. "I am going to keep up my character. I am going to play at battledore and shuttlecock with the boys in the dining-room. Who will come, too? _Qui m'aime me suit._" "Then I will be the first to follow," said Hugo, in her ear. She pouted and drank her tea, glancing half-reluctantly toward Rupert. But he would not heed. "I will come, too," said Elizabeth, relieving the awkwardness of a rather long pause. "I always like to see you play. Kitty is as light as a bird," she added to Mr. Vivian, who bowed and looked profoundly uninterested. Nevertheless, in a few minutes he found the drawing-room so dull without the young people, that he, too, descended to see what was going on. He heard the sound of counting in breathless voices as he drew near the drawing-room. "Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, three hundred. One, two, three----" "Kitty and Mr. Luttrell have kept up to three hundred and three, Mr. Vivian!" cried one of the boys as he entered the room.