"Yes. By the way, Celia, I am so distressed to hear how Uncle Jasper spoke to Joy at tea."
"It was very unkind of him," Celia replied, the ready tears filling her eyes; "but he promised he wouldn't speak to her like it again."
"I am glad of that. Don't cry, my dear. Uncle Jasper will find out he has misjudged your sister one of these days."
This speech had anything but a comforting effect on Celia. Her mother was touched by her very real distress, and continued kindly:
"I know how fond my little daughters are of each other, but you mustn't take this matter so much to heart. I have been talking to Joy, and I believe she will try to be patient with Uncle Jasper, and not resent the fact of his injustice. Come, dry your eyes. You have cried enough to-day."
"I have such a bad headache!" Celia sighed.
"Come, then, we will go out on the terrace, and the fresh air will do your head good. I hear Joy and Eric's voices, I think. Yes, and that's Joy's laugh. Dear child, she is recovering her spirits."
The remainder of the evening till supper-time, Mrs. Wallis and her children spent out-of-doors. Sir Jasper did not join them, for he was afraid to venture out after the rain; but he sat close inside the dining-room window, and watched Joy and Eric, who were playing with the spaniel puppy, whilst Celia and her mother strolled up and down the terrace. He noticed the traces of tears still on Celia's cheeks, and thought she had been grieving on her sister's account; then when he turned his eyes upon that sister, and saw how much she was enjoying her romp with her brother and the dog, he told himself that she was a shallow little thing, and that his sarcastic remark had made no lasting impression upon her; wherein he was greatly mistaken, for his words had cut like a knife, and had sunk deeply into Joy's tender heart.