ne up in linen, the blinds were shut, and the whole house
looked like a church whose minister had been sent off on his travels at
the expense of an adoring congregation.

E. E. and I stood in the hall, I with a satchel in my hand, she with a
little brown affair buckled on one side of her waist.

That child was a-standing in the open door, watching the men pile the
trunks on the wagon.

"Mamma," she called out, as the man drove away, "I'm sure they have left
a trunk, for I counted, and there was only nineteen."

E. E. ran to the foot of the stairs.

"Dempster, Dempster!"

Down came Dempster, looking hot and worried.

E. E. called out:

"Do stop the wagon, something is left."

Dempster ran into the street, stopped the man, and stood in the hot sun
counting over the trunks. His face was in a blaze when he came back.

"It's all right," says he, "twenty of them, full count. Come, get into
the carriage."

E. E. moved forward a step or two, then halted.

"The basement door--is it bolted?"

Dempster dived down to the lower hall and up again, panting for breath.

"The scuttle," said E. E., pointing upwards.

Dempster rushed upstairs, banged away at the roof, and ran down again.

E. E. drew down her veil, and tightened her shawl.

"Oh, Dempster, have you locked the wine-cellar?"

Again Dempster made a rush into the depths of the earth, and came up
again dripping with swe--well, perspiration.

"There, I think everything is safe now," he said, offering E. E. his
arm.

She took it a moment, then dropped it suddenly.

"Dear me! Dempster, you haven't been near the stable, and I haven't a
doubt it is wide open!"

Dempster said something between his teeth which I tried my best not to
hear; then off he went down the pavement, looking as if he would give
the world to knock some one down. By and by he came back, panting like a
mad dog.

"Anything more!" says he, savage as a jack-knife, wiping his face with a
white pocket-handkerchief.

"Yes, dear," says E. E.; "I'm afraid I left my parasol--just run up and
see."

Dempster went, and came down with the parasol in his hand.

She took it, and got into the carriage. I followed, and "that child"
dived in after me. Dempster had his foot on the step, when E. E. broke
out again:

"Oh, darling, what shall I do?--Snip has been left behind. I think you
will find her in the bath-room."

Dempster dashed the handkerchief across his face, ran up the steps in
desperate