“Oh,” cried Dinah, with her little shout (she would not have been Dinah without that little shout), “Oh, Tessa, did you hear?”

“She is star-gazing,” said Mr. Hammerton.

“It isn’t a true story,” pleaded Dinah. “You didn’t really see him hanging by the rope and the woman looking on.”

“My young friend, it is an allegory; that is what you will drive some man to some day.”

“You know I won’t. What is the name of that bright star?”

“It isn’t a star, it’s a planet.”

“How do I know the difference?”

“Lady Blue knows.”

“Do you call her that because her eyes are so blue or because she is a blue-stocking?”

“She is not a blue-stocking; I will not allow it. It is for her eyes.”