"Hush, my dear; not quite so loud. But if
it is good for you, Daisy?"

"It can't be good for any one, papa — that
horrible London — where I am to be dressed
up, like one of those travelling monkeys we
have seen here, in feathers and a train. '

"Your mamma is right, Daisy," said Mr.
Lamplugh, with a sigh; "you are a savage—
true Bedouin."

"I am what my darling mother was, papa,
and what I always will remain," cried
Daisy.

' Heaven help me! " groaned Mr. Lamplugh.
"What a life is mine! I, a quiet
man, loving ease above all things, to be the
battle-ground between an Arab child and the
Lady Albinia."

And he certainly was to be pitied.

So they all were; Lady Albinia with the
rest. For, this unconventional atmosphere
was just as hateful to her as her stiffness and
suppression was foreign to it; though
not so hurtful. To the children, the chief
harm done, was the sense of guilt taught
them. They, who had never heard of evil,
now found that every action of their lives was
wrong, and wasted many an hour in tearful
perplexity between good and evil, which had
all the effect of real sinfulness upon
them. Daisy, who had been as free as the
winds of heaven, was now followed and
watched, like a criminal. A strange air of
suspicion and wrong was cast around her when
she was with Charley Musgrave; an
atmosphere of glances, whispers, inuendoes,
hints, that she could not understand, and
that irritated rather than controlled her.
Altogether, it was a miserable household.

Unhappiness threw Charley and Daisy
more than ever together; for he too was
wretched. An unfettered nature like his
could not find much nurture beneath the
shadow of Lady Albinia; and, as it never
occurred to him to leave the family, he
remained and suffered with the rest. By
being thrown thus mournfully together, no
longer in the innocent freedom of their former
life, thoughts and feelings which would not have
ripened yet had they lived as of old sprang
up into quick maturity; so, Lady Albinia
hastened the catastrophe she wanted to avert.
Daisy and Charley Musgrave found out one
day that they loved each other, yet not
as brother and sister. Hitherto they had
lived in the belief that they loved as brother
and sister do.

Lady Albinia was horror-struck. Her step-
child engaged to a worthless tutor—a man,
half arist, half teacher, who had actually to
work for his living! It could never be. She
flatly told Mr. Lamplugh so, and he shrugged
his shoulders in despair, and said despondingly
that he would not interfere. So, he
went up to London suddenly, leaving his
aristocratic wife and his wild household to
fight out the fight by themselves. The lady
was left a clear stage now. Mistress of the
family, without even the seeming contronl of
her husband, she would soon make matters
conform to her ideas. She would try, at any
rate. The morning after Mr. Lamplugh went
away, she called Charley Musgiave into her
room. Charley came in, in his old lounging,
careless way, thinking more of a linnet's nest
he had found, and wanted to show Daisy, than
of the Lady Albinia.

"Mr. Musgrave," began the lady stiffly,
but with all her renowned politeness. "I
am sorry to be obliged to trouble you with a
few unpleasant words."

Charley Musgrave looked up frankly.
"Well, Lady Albinia, what is it?"

"You must be aware, Mr. Musgrave, that
your proposals for Miss Lamplugh cannot
meet with my approbation," said the
Lady Albinia, playing with her diamond ring,
with her finger and thumb hooked together,
like a beak.

"Why not, my lady?" he asked, his cheeks
rather flushed now.

"Oh, Mr. Musgrave we need not go into
detail. It is quite enough to say, generally,
that the connection would be undesirable, and
that I positively refuse my consent. Most
gentlemen would be satisfied with this
answer."

"But, Lady Albinia," urged Charley, "when
a man's prospects, and every hope of happiness,
are to be blighted, it is but fair to tell him
plainly why. To say that the connection is
undesirable is very vague. Have you nothing
more definite to urge against me — my habits,
character, principles?"

"Nothing decidedly immoral, Mr.
Musgrave; much that I entirely disapprove of."

"As what, my lady ?"

"Oh! Your freedom, wildness, and—as
I consider it — vulgarity. I have always
deplored your influence in this household—I
confess it frankly—and now I firmly oppose
this engagement. Granting that my ideas of
good breeding are unnecessarily high for Mr.
Lamplugh's children, yet still, Mr. Musgrave,
your fortune, your worldly position, would be
a sufficient barrier."

"But if Daisy does not object to my
poverty?"

"Miss Lamplugh must be guided and
controlled."

"And if she will not, Lady Albinia?"

"Mr. Musgrave, she shall."

"Is it, then, open war?"

"No, Mr. Musgrave, it is simply a negative
warfare. I do not condescend to war with
tutors and children;" and the Lady Albinia
seated herself with inexpressible disdain. " Of
course, Mr. Musgrave," she added after a
moment's silence, during which Charley had
been doing strict battle with his passionate
impulse to defy her to her face, " you will
consider this conversation as a sufficient
dismissal from your place as tutor to the Master
Lamplughs."