THE COUSINS Harriet Smales had left home in a bad temper that Sunday afternoon, and when she came back to tea, after her walk with Julian, her state of mind did not appear to have undergone any improvement.

She took her place at the tea-table in silence.

She and Mrs.Ogle were alone this evening; the latter's husband--he was a journeyman printer, and left entirely in his wife's hands the management of the shop in Gray's Inn Road--happened to be away.

Mrs.Ogle was a decent, cheerful woman, of motherly appearance.

She made one or two attempts to engage Harriet in conversation, but, failing, subsided into silence, only looking askance at the girl from time to time.