"We know absolutely nothing; but that Rosy was fond of us, and that her marriage has seemed to make her cease to care.

She was not like that; she was not like that! Was she, father ?" "No, she wasn't," he exclaimed.

The memory of her in her short-frocked and early girlish days, a pretty, smiling, effusive thing, given to lavish caresses and affectionate little surprises for them all, came back to him vividly.

"She was the most affectionate girl I ever knew," he said.

"She was more affectionate than you, Betty," with a smile.
Bettina smiled in return and bent her head to put a kiss on his hand, a warm, lovely, comprehending kiss.
"If she had been different I should not have thought so much of the change," she said.