a good deal like being taken to church and made to sit in a front
pew. It was discovered after a while, however, that Aunt Penniman
was but an accident in Catherine's existence, and not a part of its
essence, and that when the girl came to spend a Saturday with her
cousins, she was available for "follow-my-master," and even for
leapfrog. On this basis an understanding was easily arrived at, and
for several years Catherine fraternised with her young kinsmen. I
say young kinsmen, because seven of the little Almonds were boys, and
Catherine had a preference for those games which are most
conveniently played in trousers. By degrees, however, the little
Almonds' trousers began to lengthen, and the wearers to disperse and
settle themselves in life. The elder children were older than
Catherine, and the boys were sent to college or placed in counting-
rooms. Of the girls, one married very punctually, and the other as
punctually became engaged. It was to celebrate this latter event
that Mrs. Almond gave the little party I have mentioned. Her
daughter was to marry a stout young stockbroker, a boy of twenty; it
was thought a very good thing.



CHAPTER IV



Mrs. Penniman, with more buckles and bangles than ever, came, of
course, to the entertainment, accompanied by her niece; the Doctor,
too, had promised to look in later in the evening. There was to be a
good deal of dancing, and before it had gone very far, Marian Almond
came up to Catherine, in company with a tall young man. She