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That quarter of an hour before dinner, which to people who are used to it is generally rather a bore than otherwise, is quite an amusement to Doris, whose only experience of dinner-parties hitherto has been a bird's-eye view, obtained by hanging over the balustrade, of the guests filing into the dining-room. To-night the girl feels all the importance of being for the first time an actual participant in the entertainment; and flushed with the consciousness of her own dignity in having to assist her mother in receiving their friends, and the proud knowledge that she is wearing a properly-made dress, she feels there is at last some advantage in being the eldest girl of the family. A long peal at the bell, and Doris rushes hastily across to her mother.

"Do you really wish me to talk to every one, mother, and divide my attentions between them all, as I have seen you doing?"

"Yes, dear, of course. You will soon take it up and get accustomed to the ways of society. I want you to see a little in your own home before coming out next season, so that you may gain a little experience; otherwise I should not let you dine with us at your age. I don't know, I am sure, what your aunt will say to what I suppose she will call my injudicious haste in bringing you forward. She considers eighteen quite the correct age for introducing girls, but six months the other side—"