"  Do  you  think  so  ?  "  said  Mabel,  still  a  little  timid.  Then
abruptly  her  shyness  seemed  to  slip  away  from  her.  "  But
you  don't  think  so,"  she  went  on.  "  You  only  said  that  to
be  polite."

"  Well,  perhaps  I  did,"  Bernard  admitted.
"  We've  none  of  us  got  any  talents  really,"  said  Mabel,
"  but  mother  makes  us  perform  whether  we  like  it  or  not.
She'll  probably  call  on  me  in  a  minute,  and  I  daren't  refuse.
Susan's  the  bravest  of  us.  She  used  to  have  to. play  the  piano
but  last  year  she  struck  and  that's  finished,  thank  goodness."

"  Mabel,  won't  you  sing  something  now,"  came  Mrs.
Harvey's  voice  across  the  room.
Mabel  made  a  little  face  at  Bernard  and  went  to  the  piano.
She  sang  Robin  Adair  with  deep  expression  and  a  thin  voice,
and  gave  Beautiful  Garden  of  Roses  as  an  encore.  After  that
a  visitor  played  Dvorak's  Humoreske  jerkily  on  the  violin,
and  then  Jack  Harvey,  in  a  fine  bass  voice  that  contrasted
strangely  with  his  general  manner,  sang  My  Old  Shako,
and  Just  before  the  Battle,  Mother,  which  last  brought  tears
to  Mrs.  Harvey's  eyes  and  necessitated  the  calling  in  of  Mary


DUBLIN  127

Ann  and  her  despatch  to  the  upper  regions  for  a  fresh  pocket-
handkerchief.
Then  tea  was  served  and  Lady  Lascelles  came  over  to
Molly  and  said  :

"  Many  happy  returns.  I've  just  heard  it's  your  birth-
day," and  a  golden  present  found  its  way  into  Molly's  hand.
