“Oh, mother! I am vexed,” said Linda. “Is it quite settled?”

“Is what settled, my dear?”

“Is it quite settled that Stephanotie is to come to-morrow?”

“By the way, I was going to ask you about her, Linda. What sort of girl is she?”

“I do not wish to say anything against my schoolfellows, mother; but if you could only see her—”

Mrs. Hartrick raised her eyebrows in alarm.

“Molly has taken so violently to her,” she answered, “and so has Nora; and I thought that just for once—”

“So you have given leave, mother?”

“Yes; I have.”

“And my friends are coming—those two charming girls, the Armitages.”