"I call her Saint Nitouche--but she's a great dear, isn't she? Good
night."

He accompanied her to the foot of the stairs and lit her candle. On the
third stair she paused.

"Remember--in all this it's I who am the fairy godmother."

"And I," said Austin, "am nothing but the fairy godmother's humble and
devoted factotum." He took the hand which she extended and, bending over
it, kissed it gallantly.

Then by unhappy chance out came Dick from the armoury, and beheld the
spectacle which robbed him of his peace of mind.

The next morning, when Dick came down gloomily to breakfast, she was
very gentle with him, and administered tactfully to his wants. She
insisted on going to the sideboard and carving his cold ham, of which he
ate prodigious quantities after a hot first course, and when she put the
plate before him laid a caressing touch on his shoulder. She neglected
Austin in a bare-faced manner, and drew Dick into reluctant and then
animated talk on his prize roses and a setter pup just recovering from
distemper. After the meal she went with him round the garden, inspected
both roses and puppy, and manifested great interest in a trellis he was
constructing for the accommodation later in the summer of some climbing
cucumbers, at present only visible as modest leaves in flower-pots.
Neither made any reference to the little scene of the night before.
Morning had brought to Dick the conviction that in refusing her hand and
slamming the door he had behaved in an unpardonably bearish manner; and