"I don't miss the boys half so much since Susy has come," Christina informed Miss Bertha one day. "You see, I can't have very grave talks with Puggy and Dawn; Puggy always laughs at me, and Dawn won't listen, he begins to talk himself. But Susy understands things much better. She says boys and men don't think like women and girls."
Miss Bertha laughed.
"Susy is a little cynic sometimes, though she doesn't know it."
"I had a letter from Dawn this morning," Christina went on. "He asked me if you had worn your bonnet yet?"
A faint colour came into Miss Bertha's cheeks.
"It is a little bit heavy," she confessed. "I think I must keep it till next winter, Childie. The mild bright weather is coming on, and I get headaches if I have too much weight on my head."
Christina assented innocently; and the Christmas bonnet as yet had never been worn.
Time slipped by, and soon the Easter holidays came round.
Dawn and his father appeared first, and took possession of their country cottage again.
When Puggy arrived, Dawn came over to the Towers and spent a long day there, and it was in the turret room that Susy was brought under discussion.