Her hair was loosely knotted at the back, and on her forehead were straying curls which were seldom tolerated in the severity of her usual neatness. She wore a collar of pearls, and her bodice was ornamented with two sunbursts and a star. French, who had never seen her in evening dress, was amazed.

He seemed to forget that he had asked speech with her, and stood gazing as if she were an animated portrait whose exceeding merit left him dumb. He was recalled alike to his senses and his manners by Dicky, who turned a handspring over his sister's long train and then addressed Stephen, when he found himself right-end up. "I say, Mr.

French, mustn't she have been sort of loony to wear a dress like that, and she sixty-five?" "Who?" asked French, completely mystified. "Why, mother's cousin, Mrs. Beck.