“Do you remember that morning Stephen came to see me?” she began.  “Madam thought at first that Master Archdale must be my father, and she gave a most gracious assent to my request to go to walk with him.  I was dying of fun all the time, I could scarcely keep my face straight; then, when she caught a glimpse of him as we were going out of the hall, she said in a dubious tone, ‘Your brother, I presume, Mistress Archdale?’ But I never heard a word.  I was near the street door and I put myself the other side of it without much delay.  So did Stephen.  And we went off laughing.  He said I was a wicked little cousin, and he spelled it ‘cozen;’ but he didn’t seem to mind my wickedness at all.”  There was a pause, during which Katie looked at her smiling friend, and her own face dimpled bewitchingly.  “This is exactly what you would have done, Elizabeth,” she said.  “You would have heard that tentative remark of Madam’s, of course you would, and you would have stood still in the hall and explained that Stephen was your cousin, instead of your brother, and have lost your walk beyond a doubt, you know the Flamingo.  Now, I was just as good as you would have been, only, I was wiser.  I, too, told Madam that he was my cousin, but I waited until I came home to do it.  The poor old lady could not help herself then; it was impossible to take back my fun, and she could not punish me, because she had given me permission to go, nor could she affirm that I heard her remark, for it was made in an undertone.  There was nothing left for her but to wrap her illustrious shawl about her and look dignified.”  “Do you think Master Harwin will come to-day?” Katie asked a few moments later, “and Master Waldo?  I hope they will all three be here together; it will be fun, they can entertain each other, they are so fond of one another.”

“Katie!  Katie!”

The girl broke into a laugh.

“Oh, yes, I remember,” she said, “Stephen is your property.”

“Don’t,” cried Elizabeth, with sudden gravity and paleness in her face.  “I think it was wicked in me to jest about such a sacred thing.  Let me forget it.”

“I wont tease you if you really care.  But if it was wicked, it was a great deal more my doing, and Master Waldo’s, than your’s or Stephen’s.  We wanted to see the fun.  Your great fault, Elizabeth, is that you vex yourself too much about little things.  Do you know it will make you have wrinkles?”

This question was put with so much earnestness that Elizabeth laughed heartily.

“One thing is sure,” she said, “I shall not remain ignorant of my failings through want of being told them while I’m here.  It would be better to go home.”

“Only try it!” cried Katie, going to her and kissing her.  “But now, Elizabeth, I want to tell you something in all seriousness.  Just listen to me, and profit by it, if you can.  I’ve found it out for myself.  The more you laugh at other people’s absurdities the fewer of your own will be noticed, because, you see, it implies that you are on the right standpoint to get a review of other people.”