to-day; if it hadn't ripped Fletcher wouldn't have got his foot in it,
I shouldn't have made an object of myself, he wouldn't have gone off
in a rage, and--who knows what might have happened?"

"Bless the what's-its-name if it has settled him," cried Jack. "He is
a contemptible fellow not to stay and help you out of the scrape he
got you into. Follow his lead and don't trouble yourself about him."

"Well, he _was_ rather absurd to-day, I allow; but he _has_ got
handsome eyes and hands, and he _does_ dance like an angel," sighed
Kitty, as she pinned up the treacherous loop which had brought
destruction to her little castle in the air.

"Handsome eyes, white hands, and angelic feet don't make a man. Wait
till you can do better, Kit."

With an odd, grave look, that rather startled Kitty, Jack vanished, to
return presently with a comfortable cup of tea and a motherly old lady
to help repair damages and soothe her by the foolish little purrings
and pattings so grateful to female nerves after a flurry.

"I'll come back and take you out to see the dance round the tree when
you've had a bit of a rest," said Jack, vibrating between door and
sofa as if it wasn't easy to get away.

"Oh, I couldn't," cried Kitty, with a shudder at the bare idea of
meeting any one. "I can't be seen again to-night; let me stay here
till my train goes."

"I thought it had gone, already," said Jack, with an irrepressible