"Yes, I expect to be laughed at," said she, in a tone which was certainly not that of a martyr. "I have always been ridiculed and persecuted ever since I began to try to lead a devout life, and I always expect to be, but I mean to persevere, for all that." Winifred turned to the work of the other girls, praised what they had done well, corrected their mistakes, and finally, having set them all down to work, proposed that she should read or relate to them a tale while they were at their frames. The proposition was received with great favor by the younger ones, especially by Betty, who declared that she loved nothing so much as a tale. "And let it be all about giants, and fairies, and enchanted castles," pleaded Jemima. "I will tell you plenty of such tales in our play hours," said Winifred, "but not in school-time. Let me see if I cannot make a true story as interesting to you as a fairy tale." She then began the touching story of Richard Grenville's death, as she had read it in Hackluyt's "Voyages," and was glad to see that her auditors were capable of being interested, and that even Paulina, who had begun by turning her back upon the company, became so engaged with the story as to forget her self-imposed task of picking out. As the clock struck eleven, there was a general cry of "Oh, do go on!" "Not now," said Winifred. "We must keep to our hours, and you have been sitting still long enough. Does madam your mother allow you to walk in the garden?" "She will let us, I know, if you go with us," replied Phyllis, one of the twins. "Shall I ask her?" "If you please." Phyllis skipped away and presently returned, followed by her mother. "What is this about walking in the garden?" asked Lady Corbet. Winifred explained. "O yes, they may go if you like to go with them and keep an eye upon them. But perhaps you will not care to do that?" "Indeed I shall, madam. I have not been in a garden since I used to gather rose-leaves in that at the Hall." "Ah, but you must not expect to see anything like the Hall gardens here, my dear. My cousin, Sir Edward, was always famous for his taste in gardening and the like, but Sir John has no time for such matters. Only do not let these wild girls meddle with fruit or flowers, for their father will be very angry. You must watch them well." The garden possessed neither the extent nor the variety of that at Holford Hall, but still it was a garden, and it was with a sensation of exquisite delight that Winifred found herself once more among flowers and shrubs, and the familiar odors of lavender, rosemary, and lilies. Paulina walked silently at her side. She was a tall, pretty girl, and would have been attractive but for the air of self-conscious and almost sullen constraint which pervaded her whole face and manner. She seemed like a person who was trying hard to sustain an assumed character, and, as it seemed, with very indifferent success.