arlor; and Honora
is in the kitchen; and--"

"There! there!" Captain Elisha interrupted hastily, "don't tell me any
more. I'd rather _guess_ that the baby bunks in the cookstove oven than
know it for sartin. How did the grapes I sent you go?" turning to the
sick man.

"Aw, sor! they were foine. God bless you, sor! Mary be kind to you, sor!
Sure the angels'll watch over you every day you live and breathe!"

Captain Elisha bolted for the parlor, the sufferer firing a gatling
fusillade of blessings after him. Mrs. Moriarty continued the
bombardment, as she escorted him to the door of the flat.

"There! there!" protested the captain. "Just belay! cut it short,
there's a good woman! I'll admit I'm a saint and would wear a halo
instead of a hat if 'twa'n't so unfashionable. Good day. If you need
anything you ain't got, tell the nurse."

The grateful Irish woman did not intend to let him escape so easily.

"Aw, sor," she went on, "it's all right for you to make fun. I'm the
jokin' kind, sor, meself. Whin the flats where we used to be got afire
and Pat had to lug me down the fire escape in his arms, they tell me
I was laughin' fit to kill; that is, when I wasn't screechin' for fear
he'd drop me. And him, poor soul, never seein' the joke, but puffin' and
groanin' that his back was in two pieces. Ha, ha! Oh, dear! And him
in two pieces now for sure and all! Aw, sor, it's all right for you to
laugh it off, but what would we do without you? You and Miss Caroline,
God bless her!"

"Caroline? She doesn't come here, does she?"

"Indade she does. Sure, she's the perfect little lady! Hardly a day
passes--or a week, anyhow--that she doesn't drop in to see how the ould
man's gettin' on."

"Humph! Well, see that you don't tell her about me."

Mrs. Moriarty held up both hands in righteous protestation. _She_ tell?
Might the tongue of her wither between her teeth before it let slip a
word, and so on. Captain Elisha waved her to silence.

"All right! all right!" he exclaimed. "So long! Take good care of your
husband, and, and--for Heaven's sake, walk careful and don't step on any
of the children."

Mrs. Moriarty's tongue did not wither; at all events, it was lively
enough when he next met her. The captain's secret was not divulged, and
he continued his visits to the flat, taking care, however, to ascertain
his niece's whereabouts beforehand. It was not altogether a desire to
avoid making his charitable deeds public which influe