His wife and little daughter seemed to regard him with the most admiring affection, which he accepted with a bored and rather patronizing air. When the long and ceremonious dinner was over, little Ruby sprang down from her chair and caught his hand. "Come, papa, come, mamma," she cried, "you must go to the nursery now." They went away with her, and when Golden returned to the nursery later, she found the little girl sitting on her father's knee, and chatting volubly to him, while Mrs. Desmond was nowhere to be seen. Ruby jumped down from her perch and ran to Golden. "Papa," she said, evidently referring to some subject they had been discussing. "I will show it to you, and you will say that I am right." With a quick, deft motion, she pulled the cap from Golden's head, and loosened the braid so that the curling, rippling mass of gold fell in a shower of beauty over the girl's shoulders. Then she cried out in gleeful triumph: "Isn't it lovely, papa? Did you ever see such a pretty nurse." Mr. Desmond looked in amazement at the blushing, shrinking girl, and murmured inaudibly: "Ye gods, what a perfect beauty!" At that moment the brilliant brunette, Mrs. Desmond, swept into the room with a waft of exquisite perfume, her diamonds glittering, her rich silk and laces rustling majestically, a white satin opera cloak folded gracefully around her white shoulders. She looked at Golden so wrathfully that it froze the quick murmur of irrepressible admiration on her lips. "Girl, what does this disordered appearance mean? Why is your hair down after my strict orders?" she demanded, angrily. "Your daughter pulled it down, madam," Golden answered, with outward dignity and quietness, though she was inwardly chafed and deeply wounded. Mrs. Desmond turned round in a gust of passion and gave Ruby a ringing slap on the cheek with her white, jeweled hand. "Take that, and behave yourself better the next time," she cried, sharply. Ruby ran, screaming, to her father, and Mrs. Desmond cried out impatiently: "Come, Mr. Desmond, the carriage is waiting. Mary, put the child to bed. Good-night, Ruby." She bent to kiss the child good-night, but Ruby pushed her away with an angry scream, and ran to hide her face in Golden's skirts. Mrs. Desmond turned away, followed by her husband, who said reproachfully as they passed from the room: "You were needlessly cruel to the poor little thing Edith, my dear." CHAPTER XX. Mrs. Desmond came into the nursery the next morning with her arms full of new toys as a propitiatory gift to her offended little daughter. She greeted Golden very kindly, feeling ashamed of her petulance of the evening before, when she saw how patiently she was ministering to the comfort of her little daughter. Little Ruby was suffering with a headache this morning. She lay on a silken lounge, with her head propped on pillows, and Golden was bathing the hot temples with _eau de cologne_.