"So I was when it was home. It has ceased to be my home, and I shall be glad to leave it." "Oh, Violet, you have a hard heart." "Good-night, mamma." She was gone, leaving Mrs. Winstanley feebly moaning, and vaguely dabbing her forehead, feeling that the Fates had not been kind to her. Life seemed to have gone all askew. It was as if Theodore had taken to sending home misfits. Nothing was smooth or pleasant in an existence whose halcyon calm had once been undisturbed by so much as a crumpled rose-leaf. Vixen went straight to her room, accompanied by Argus, who had followed her from the hall to the door of her mother's dressing-room, and had waited patiently for her in the corridor, with his head leaning against the closed door, as if he scented trouble within. When girl and dog were alone together, Violet flung herself on the ground, threw her arms round the mastiff's thick neck, and let her tears flow freely against that faithful head. "Oh, Argus," she cried piteously, "you are the only friend left me in this wide world!" END OF VOL. II. Transcriber's note: Typographical errors silently corrected: volume 2 chapter 11: =sighed Mabel= replaced by =sighed Lady Mabel= chapter 12: =We many learn= replaced by =We may learn= chapter 12: =drift us farther.= replaced by =drift us farther."= chapter 15: =outside, "How= replaced by =outside, "how= chapter 15: =in your grandfather's time= replaced by =in your grandfeyther's time= chapter 15: =as your stepfather= replaced by =as your stepfeather=