deeply for a minute and then gave it as his idea that
five hundred pounds was usually called a fortune.

[Illustration: "The child's song touched and stirred that latent
sentimentality of theirs."]

"That'll take a good bit of making," said Betty.

"Well, you didn't expect to make it in a day did you?" asked John
roughly.

"Oh, no," said Betty cheerfully, "I was only wondering how many hours
there are in a day--at a shilling an hour."

She began to count slowly on the fingers of one hand all the hours until
seven o'clock at night, the first hour to be from eight till nine
o'clock in the morning.

"Eleven hours!" she said. "That's eleven shillings! Eleven shillings,
John. Oh, and one hour gone, that's twelve! Twelve _shillings_ a day,
just fancy, John! Oh, I'll soon be rich."

"But you couldn't sing every hour in the day," said sensible John,
although his eyes plainly expressed admiration for her brilliant career.
"Why, you'd get hoarse!"

"I only sang twice in this hour," said Betty; "the rest of the time I've
just been counting my money and looking round me."

"But you mightn't make a shilling every hour," said John.

"_But_--some hours I may make more, so it's about equal."

"I wish we could have some breakfast," said John, reverting to his
trouble. "I'm jolly hungry, I can tell you."

"So am I," said Betty. "Twelve shillings a day--six days in a week. Oh,
can I sing on Sundays, John?"

"Hymns," quoth the boy.

"Um! I could sing 'Scatter seeds of kindness' and 'Yield not to
temptation.' Um! I never thought of hymns. I think I'll sing hymns
to-day as well, 'cause I'm not very sure of my song yet, and every now
and then I have to stop to look at the words. Can I sing hymns on other
days than Sundays, John?"

"Better not," said the cautious John; "better keep the proper things for
the proper days. Well, Betty Bruce, if you're going to stay here all
day, I'm not. I'm getting awfully hungry."

At last Betty's motherliness awoke.

"My poor John!" she said, "of course you're hungry. We'll go to a shop
and get a really good breakfast. I wasn't thinking. When a person begins
to make a lot of money, they generally forget other things, don't they?"

"Um!" said John, who had made nothing at all. "We'll go and get a good
breakfast and then we'll be fit for anything, won't we. Come on."

They turned round the corner into King Street, and there to their
delight found the shops one by one opening their eyes--