“A golliwog!”

“Great big, wide-apart eyes, I mean; dark, floating ones, with immense eyelashes that curl up and stick out when you see her profile.  She’s got a short, round face—­no, kind of heart-shaped, I guess, and a little, delicate, turned-up nose, like the Duchess of Marlborough’s; and a lovely mouth—­yes, her mouth is lovely, no mistake!  She’s nearly always laughing, even when she isn’t happy.  She’s got a long neck, like a flower stem, and long legs—–­”

“Good gracious, what a description!  For heaven’s sake, who is the girl?”

“Oh, I know it must sound queer; but she’s the most fascinating thing you ever saw, and any man would say so.  She’s a Miss Child—–­”

“There’s no Miss Child on the passenger list.”

“Maybe not; because she’s one of Nadine’s models, and I bought you a gorgeous dress off her.  I’ve been—­saving it for a surprise.  It’s called the ’New’—­no, the ‘Young Moon.’”

Ena forgot for a moment that she badly needed help from her brother and began sharply to catechize him. “When did you buy me a dress?  The day Lord Raygan offered to go back to that room and choose me one and I said no, I didn’t want a dress?”

“Yes.  That was the day.  I couldn’t let her try it on in vain.”

“Oh, you bought it to please her—­the girl like a golliwog?”

“She isn’t like a golliwog, really.  That’s not fair.  And I bought the dress to please you, of course.  It’s mighty pretty.  I’ve got it in my room.”

“I wonder what your steward thinks?  Well, I’ll thank you when I see it.  But what an idea, to introduce one of those girls to me!  Lord Raygan said they were all bleached and painted, except the one who wasn’t pretty.”

“That’s my one.  But I think she is pretty, and better than pretty.  Her eyes—­and her smile—–­”

“Never mind her eyes and her smile.  I can’t be introduced to a model, Petro.  I won’t know a dressmaker.”

“Mother was one.  And father’s mother was a washer—–­”

“Be still, for the love of heaven!  If any one should hear!”

“I’m not ashamed of—–­”

“Well, I am!  Oh, Petro, don’t be horrid, just when I really need you to be nice.  And you can be nice—­very nice.  Don’t let’s even think about the family past.  It’s awful!  It’s a blot!  But it can’t be helped.  We must try to live it down.  And we can, with our money.  We can and we must.  A great chance has come to us.  All the more because of—­of what you reminded me—­we must be careful of the sort of people we mix ourselves up with—­”

“This girl is a lady.”

Then Ena lost her temper.  “They all are,” she snapped.  “I suppose she’s a clergyman’s daughter and her parents are dead.”

“Her mother is,” Peter admitted.

“She would be!  What does the girl want help for?  Doesn’t Nadine pay her wages?”