"No. He was young and slight and clean-shaved."
"That is curious; for Colonel Ormonde was saying at luncheon to-day that he had saved, or helped to save, such a pretty little boy from being run over. I don't exactly remember what he said. I was listening to Mrs. De Vere Hopkins, and Mrs. Burnett's boy was making a noise. Colonel Ormonde said he was just like a little fellow he had seen nearly run over that morning. I am sure Tom Burnett is not half as handsome as my Cecil."
"I should not have been run over if auntie had left me alone."
"Go and get mother's tea, and you, Charlie, fetch her some nice bread and butter," said Katherine, who, though six or seven years her sister-in-law's junior, looked at first sight older. "There _was_ an elderly gentleman such as you describe, talking with the young man who rescued Cecil, and he was very polite and interested in Cecil, who broke away from me, though he had promised to stay by my side."
"Promised," repeated Mrs. Frederic, lightly, and carefully dusting her bonnet with her handkerchief. "What can you expect from a child's promise? But poor Cecil rarely does right in your eyes."
"Not at all. I am very observant. But tell me, did Colonel Ormonde take much notice of Cecil?"
"I do not know. I was too much frightened to see anything but the dear child himself."
Mrs. Frederic did not reply for a moment; she seemed to be thinking deeply. "Where did you get those flowers--those you bought on Saturday for sixpence?"
"Oh! at the little florist's on Queen's Road. It was late in the evening, you know, or they would not have been so cheap."
"I should like some to-morrow to make the drawing-room look pretty, if possible, for Colonel Ormonde said he would call. He wishes to see some of my Otocammed photographs. Heigho! it is a miserable place to receive any one in."
"Really, Katherine, you are very unsympathetic. If you have a fault, dear, it is selfishness. You don't mind my saying so?"
"Oh, not at all. I am thankful for the 'if.'"
"Lying down. She is tired, and has a horrid headache."
"I'm sure I don't wonder at it, toiling from morning till night for those wretched papers. I was telling Mrs. Burnett to-day that my mother-in-law was an authoress, but when I mentioned that she wrote for _The Family Friend_ and _The Cheerful Visitor_, Lady Everton, who writes in _The Court Journal_ and various grand things of that kind, said they were quite low publications, and never got higher than the servants' hall."