“Do you think so?” she asked in an odd tone, adding sharply: “Time will tell.” Then the bright eyes turned from him and wandered toward the grove of trees that inclosed the house. He saw her breast rise and fall quickly, and her little hands clinched themselves in silent anger. Plainly, Molly was in a passion. “Miss Barry, you puzzle me!” said Cecil Laurens. “Why are you so anxious to return to Staunton? Have you a lover there?” Molly glanced up, and a saucy smile broke through the gloom of her face. “Pray, is that any of your business, sir?” she demanded, pertly, and was amazed when he answered, promptly: “Yes.” “But how?” curiously. “Forewarned is forearmed. I did not want to fall in love with you myself if there were any prior claim on you,” he replied, coolly and teasingly. “I am not the least afraid you will commit such a folly,” she replied, carelessly. “If it were my step-sister, now--but it could never be _me_!” “Your step-sister!” with a frown. “That would be impossible, you know. But tell me why you think so.” “Oh, she is dignified like the Barrys, and has such an odd, charming style of beauty--yellow hair and yellow eyes.” “Like a tigress,” said Cecil Laurens, and Molly started. “I never thought of it before, but she is like _that_,” she exclaimed. “She can be so sweet and purring, yet all the time you seem to feel that she has cruel claws hidden under her furred paws. She can be so hard, too--oh, you should see the letter she wrote me!” “And you think I could fall in love with such a tiger-cat as you describe. Thank you,” he said, with frank pique. “But perhaps you would not _feel_ that the claws were there as I _do_,” her large eyes dilating with earnestness. “You would see only that odd beauty and that grand air.” “Copied from the theater,” he said, and Molly flushed hotly. “Well, copied from the stage if you will,” she replied, curtly. “But all the same you would admire her, I am sure.” “I should not,” he replied with decision, and Molly half laughed, then relapsed into seriousness and wrath again. “Oh, how mean she was in that letter today! What a dig she gave me with her vicious claws! She ought to have known me better--ought to have been afraid--” she paused and bit her lips. “What do you mean?” he asked, curiously, and a light of anger and resentment flashed all over the girlish face. “Never mind,” she said. “Never mind, but I mean to _pay her back_, that is all, and--no one can blame me now!” He was gratified at seeing her mind set against that odious step-sister. “Miss Barry, I am glad you have had your eyes opened to the worthlessness of that girl,” he said, earnestly. “Her mother was an adventuress who inveigled your father into a low marriage that alienated from him all his friends and relatives. It is most fortunate for you that Mrs. Barry relented after his death and decided to make you her heiress.”