Having no special duties of her own in the household, she would wait upon and assist Eveena whenever the latter would accept her attendance.

When the whole party were assembled, it was her wont to choose her place not in the circle, still less at my side--Eveena's title to the post of honour on the left being uncontested, and Eunane generally occupying the cushions on my right.

But Eive, lying at our feet, would support herself on her arm between my knee and Eunane's, content to attract my hand to play with her curls or stroke her head.

Under such encouragement she would creep on to my lap and rest there, but seldom took any part in conversation, satisfied with the attention one pays half-consciously to a child.

A word that dropped from Enva, however, on one occasion, obliged me to observe that it was in Eveena's absence that Eive always seemed most fully aware of her privileges and most lavish of her childlike caresses.