"WE LOVE FODDIE, DON'T WE, LITTLE SARD, WE AREN'T AFRAID OF HIM? HE WON'T PUT US IN PRISON," the curious little sweet-smelling whispers came back to Sard; she felt the soft touch of curls on her face, all the flummery and subtle trappings of the lacy little mother. These people were Sard's parents and yet they were lost to her, as remote as if they had both died! Over and over the longing had come to Sard to put her arms around her father's neck and say, "Are you thinking of her too--these days?" but she could as soon have put her arms around the kitchen chimney. On the east veranda as the moon rose the soft voice of Miss Aurelia was placidly relating: "Yes, Sard's name is strange. Her father, however, has allowed her to keep it--we--your mother, Dunstan--they, well, it was thought that your father preferred a boy, but afterward you--er--came, Dunstan, and that, of course----" "Yes, of course," drawled Minga. "You--er--came, Dunstan." The girl was delicately smoking, enjoying Miss Aurelia's horror and considering the diamond on her engagement finger. It flickered in the moonlight like a wicked eye. Miss Aurelia somewhat stiffly continued: "Sardonyx was your mother's favorite stone--she--er--wore the Sardonyx signet ring of an ancestor." "By Jove! you don't say," ejaculated Dunstan. He stuck his heels higher on the rail and struck a match; he leaned over the terrace to flick some ashes into a jardinière. "And so I suppose--at that time--because of that--she--he--I--er----" "Stop it, you demon, stop it," murmured Minga; "you'll spoil the whole thing; it's wonderful, it's like knitting, knit two, purl two, turn----" "So that Mrs. Bogart," recommenced Miss Aurelia with dignity, but being plunged into the enormous detail of her story, she floundered, helpless. "So that after little Sard, the--er--baby, you know--er--came--Mrs. Bogart believing--that is--or rather having been told--er--no--well, having expected a boy--got the idea of not being able to choose an appropriate name for a girl--and in consequence--afterward you understand." Dunstan and Minga helpfully nodded--"afterward" they prompted! "That is, when Sard was three days old, Mrs. Bogart suddenly said, that is, I have always understood that she said it suddenly--my brother would know accurately--she said, 'She's to be called Sardonyx'--'Sardonyx' like that." "Really," drawled Minga.