"Why doesn't he go for a drive, sometimes? Isn't it strange he has no friend?"
"He is very friendly with Mr. Tillotson," Joy interposed, "and he likes Miss Pring; but I heard him tell mother that he had no inclination to make new friends, and that he had outlived all his old ones."
"Tillotson? Oh, he's the lawyer who has the dressy daughter you were speaking about—Celia's great friend!" Eric's eyes sparkled mischievously as they rested on his elder sister's pretty face. "Let me see, what is it she is called?"
"Lulu," Joy answered. "I don't think she's a bad sort of girl, but she's certainly very fond of dress and jewellery; she has a lot of nice things, and she wanted to give Celia a turquoise brooch, so you see she is really good-natured. Of course Celia wouldn't accept it."
"Of course not," said Celia. "It was a nice enough brooch in its way, but I daresay I may have a better one some day," she continued, "for Uncle Jasper says when I am grown up, he will give me—"
She paused abruptly as she met her brother's eager, inquiring glance, and looked a trifle confused.
"Go on. What is Uncle Jasper going to give you when you are grown up?" Eric questioned. "A silver new nothing, perhaps."
Celia could never stand teasing, and her colour rose, whilst her eyes gleamed angrily. "Uncle Jasper has most lovely jewels locked away in the safe in the library," she declared with a ring of triumph in her tone. "He showed them to me one day. They belonged to his wife. There is a pearl necklace, and diamonds—"
"Diamonds!" Eric interrupted. "Joy, no wonder Celia is inclined to disparage her friend's humble turquoise brooch if she is looking forward to wearing diamonds. Did Uncle Jasper say he was going to give them to you, Celia? Joy, you and I will have to take back seats when our sister is decked out in her diamonds!"
Joy could not help laughing, but Celia exclaimed wrathfully: