This time Ollie had to think for just a moment. She stood perfectly still under the brush.

Then – “Because I like boys best,” she gravely replied.

But when Joanna could not help smiling, Ollie, in a little panic was no longer sure what she had said, or whether it was right or wrong.

She looked at Joanna sideways, questioning.

VI

When the children were asleep, the bath emptied, all remaining traces of tombstones removed, and a tea-tray put ready for the exhausted Trissie’s arrival, it was nearly ten o’clock. Only now did Joanna remember her mother’s letter. She opened it at once.

“My Beloved Child (it ran), –

“Much has happened of late which I have not felt able to mention in my ordinary letters to you. Mother had to meditate and pray before coming to such an important decision, and in her great solitude she had none to help her but our Heavenly Father who is ever so long-suffering towards the feeblest of his children. O! my own, darling daughter, may you never fail to seek that Source in times of trial when the Evil One lieth in wait, for other help is there none. You will not be surprised when I tell you dear, that the Matter in which I have been seeking Guidance, is whether my future abode is to be in Glasgow or in London. You remember how we all talked of this at the time of dear Georgie’s wedding?

“When you left, as I have already told you in my letters, Mabel was very kind and attentive. Indeed I knew not what I should have done without her. But now that she is gone, I feel I can tell you without seeming ungrateful that she was far, far from being one of my own precious girls. I do not think she intends it, but Mabel with her gift of sympathy has a way of making me say things of my nearest and dearest which I very much regret afterwards.