beyond the brains which god has given them is it not a monstrous the admiral chuckled you are like one of these said he you have had all this talked into you and now you are it off again it s rank every word of it for man has his duties and woman has hers but they are as separate as their natures are i suppose that we shall have a woman her on the presently and taking command of the channel well you have a woman on the throne taking command of the whole nation remarked his wife and everybody is agreed that she does it better than any of the men the admiral was somewhat staggered by this that s quite another thing said he you should come to their next meeting i am to take the chair i have just promised mrs that i will do so but it has turned chilly and it is time that the girls were indoors good night i shall look out for you after breakfast for our constitutional admiral the old sailor looked after his friend with a twinkle in his eyes how old is he mother about fifty i think and mrs i heard that she was forty three the admiral rubbed his hands and shook with amusement we ll find one of these days that three and two make one said he i ll bet you a new bonnet on it mother a sister s secret chapter iv a sister s secret tell me miss you know how things should be what would you say was a good profession for a young man of twenty six who has had no education worth speaking about and who is not very quick by nature the speaker was charles and the time this same summer evening in the ground though the shadows had fallen now and the game been abandoned the girl glanced up at him amused and surprised do you mean yourself precisely but how could i tell i have no one to advise me i believe that you could do it better than any one i feel confidence in your opinion it is very flattering she glanced up again at his earnest questioning face with its saxon eyes and drooping moustache in some doubt as to whether he might be joking on the contrary all his attention seemed to be concentrated upon her answer it depends so much upon what you can do you know i do not know you sufficiently to be able to say what natural gifts you have they were walking slowly across the lawn in the direction of the house i have none that is to say none worth mentioning i have no memory and i am very slow but you are very strong beyond the city oh if that goes for anything i can put up a hundred pound bar till further orders but what sort of a calling is that some little joke about being called to the bar up in miss s mind but her companion was in such obvious earnest that she stifled down her inclination to laugh i can do a mile on the track in and across country in but how is that to help me i might be a professional but it is not a very dignified position not that i care a straw about dignity you know but i should not hke to hurt the old lady s feelings your aunt s yes my aunt s my parents were killed in the you know when i was a baby and she has looked after me ever since she has been very good to me i m sorry to leave her but why should you leave her they had reached the garden gate and the girl leaned her upon the top of it looking up with grave interest at her big white companion it s said he what don t tell my aunt that i said it � he sank his voice to a whisper � i hate off into such a merry peal of laughter that he forgot the evil things which he had suffered from the poet and burst out laughing too i can t make him out said he i try but he is one too many no doubt it is very stupid of me i don t deny it but as long as i cannot there is no use a s secret i i pretending that i can and then of course she feels hurt for she is very fond of him and likes to read him aloud in the evenings she is reading a piece now passes and i assure you miss that i don t even know what the title means you must think me a dreadful fool but surely he is not so incomprehensible as all that she said as an attempt at encouragement he is very bad there are some things you know which are fine that ride of the three and and others they are all right but there was a piece we read last week the line my aunt and it takes a good deal to do that for she rides very straight and and that was the it sounds like a charm no it is a gentleman s name three gentlemen thought at first but my aunt says one then he on he in the light of the moon it was a very trying piece w laughed again you must not think of leaving your aunt � he said think how lonely she would be without you well yes i have thought of that but you remember that my aunt is to all hardly middle aged and a very eligible person don t think that her dislike to mankind extends to individuals she might form new ties and then i should be a third wheel in the coach it was all very well ah long as t was 