CHAPTER VI.
FOR MY PART, I AM NOT GOING TO TAKE ANY NOTICE OF THE BERTRAMS.
But notwithstanding all worries, the world in midsummer, when the days are longest and the birds sing their loudest, is a gay place for the young.

Catherine Bertram stayed awake for quite an hour that night.

An hour was a long time for such young and bright eyes to remain wide open, and she fancied with a wave of self-pity how wrinkled and old she would look in the morning.

Not a bit of it! She arose with the complexion of a Hebe, and the buoyant and gladsome spirit of a lark.
As she dressed she sang, and when she ran downstairs she whistled a plantation melody with such precision and clearness that Loftus exclaimed, "Oh, how shocking!" and Mabel rolled up her eyes, and said sagely, that no one ever could turn Kate into anything but a tom-boy.
"Girls, what are we to do after breakfast ?" asked the brother.
"Have you any money at all in your pocket, Loftie ?" demurely asked Mabel, "for if so, if so--" her eyes danced, "I can undertake to provide a pleasant day for us all." "Well, puss, I don't suppose an officer in her Majesty's Royal Artillery--is quite without some petty cash.

How much do you want ?" "A few shillings will do.