uired
accuracy but no amount of labor. It was an ideal occupation for a man
of his years and limited training.

He stayed in the office until two o'clock that day, in order to get
fully acquainted with the details of his work. Then he closed his
desk, went to luncheon, which he enjoyed amazingly, and then decided
to return to Willing Square and await Patsy's return from Madam
Borne's.

As he let himself in he heard an awkward drumming and strumming on the
piano, and peering slyly through the opening in the portierre he was
startled to find Patsy herself making the dreadful noise, while a
pretty girl sat beside her directing the movements of her fingers.

The Major watched for several minutes, in silent but amazed
exultation; then he tiptoed softly to his room to smoke a cigar and
wait until his daughter was at liberty to hear his great news and
explain her own adventures.

When Uncle John came home to dinner he found father and daughter
seated happily together in a loving embrace, their faces wreathed with
ecstatic smiles that were wonderful to behold.

Uncle John was radiant in a brand new pepper-and-salt suit of clothes
that fitted his little round form perfectly. Patsy marvelled that he
could get such a handsome outfit for the money, for Uncle John had on
new linen and a new hat and even a red-bordered handkerchief for the
coat pocket--besides the necktie, and the necktie was of fine silk and
in the latest fashion.

The transformation was complete, and Uncle John had suddenly become an
eminently respectable old gentleman, with very little to criticise in
his appearance.

"Do I match the flat, now?" he asked.

"To a dot!" declared Patsy. "So come to dinner, for it's ready and
waiting, and the Major and I have some wonderful fairy tales to tell
you."

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE MAJOR DEMANDS AN EXPLANATION.

That was a happy week, indeed. Patsy devoted all her spare time to her
lessons, but the house itself demanded no little attention. She would
not let Mary dust the ornaments or arrange the rooms at all, but
lovingly performed those duties herself, and soon became an ideal
housekeeper, as Uncle John approvingly remarked.

And as she flitted from room to room she sang such merry songs that it
was a delight to hear her, and the Major was sure to get home from the
city in time to listen to the strumming of the piano at three o'clock,
from the recess of his own snug chamber.

Uncle John went to the cit