I have some blankets, and can make myself comfortable." He went out, knocking over a cup in his haste, and the girl sat still and laughed.

There was not a great deal of merriment in her laughter, and the tears were close behind it, but it was a relief.

Townshead, however, watched her disapprovingly.
"You should," he said, "endeavour to preserve a becoming serenity." Nellie Townshead became grave again.

"I fancy it would have been better if we had not displayed so much of it and let things drift, but that is not the question now," she said.

"How could any one willing to help us do so, father ?" Townshead made a little grimace.