“A fat little girl of eleven,” added Victor by way of supplementary information.

“Victor, if you say such rude things about your cousin, you shall go to bed the moment we get home, without having any tea.”

“This is one of the newest things we have in dolls,” said the assistant, removing a hobble-skirted figure in peach-coloured velvet from the window; “leopard skin toque and stole, the latest fashion. You won’t get anything newer than that anywhere. It’s an exclusive design.”

“Look!” whispered Emmeline outside; “they’ve bin and took Morlvera.”

There was a mingling of excitement and a certain sense of bereavement in her mind; she would have liked to gaze at that embodiment of overdressed depravity for just a little longer.

“I ’spect she’s going away in a kerridge to marry the rich lord,” hazarded Bert.