"Meet me in the shrubbery in half an hour," he said.

She stepped back from him, startled by the proposal.
When Mrs.Presty was in the middle of the room again, Linley and the governess were no longer near each other.
Having by this time recovered herself, Kitty got on her legs.

"Now," the spoiled child declared, addressing the company present, "I'm going to play." The doll was put into the perambulator, and was wheeled about the room, while Mrs.Linley moved the chairs out of the way, and Randal attended with the open parasol--under orders to "pretend that the sun was shining." Once more the sixpenny picture-book was neglected.

Mrs.Presty picked it up from the floor, determined by this time to hold it in reserve until her ungrateful grandchild reached years of discretion.

She put it in the bookcase between Byron's "Don Juan" and Butler's "Lives of the Saints." In the position which she now occupied, Linley was visible approaching Sydney again.