nt-door bell;
then a protracted silence; then another gentle _ting_.

'Bless the girl! Why doesn't she answer the door?' Aunt Annie whispered
to herself, listening hard.

A third time the bell rang, and Aunt Annie, anathematizing the whole
race of servants, got up, put the washing-book on the dressing-table,
lighted the gas and turned it low, and descended to answer the door in
person and to behead Sarah.

More than an hour elapsed before either sister re-entered Henry's
room--events on the ground-floor had been rather exciting--and then they
appeared together, bearing a bird, and some mince-tarts on a plate, and
a card. Henry was wide awake.

'This _is_ a surprise, dear,' began Mrs. Knight. 'Just listen: "With Sir
George Powell's hearty greetings and best wishes for a speedy recovery!"
A turkey and six mince-tarts. Isn't it thoughtful of him?'

'It's just like the governor,' said Henry, smiling, and feeling the
tenderness of the turkey.

'He is a true gentleman,' said Aunt Annie.

'And we've sent round to the doctor to ask, and he says there's no harm
in your having half a mince-tart; so we've warmed it. And you are to
have a slice off the breast of the turkey to-morrow.'

'Good!' was Henry's comment. He loved a savoury mouthful, and these
dainties were an unexpected bliss, for the ladies had not dreamt of
Christmas fare in the sad crisis, even for themselves.

Aunt Annie, as if struck by a sudden blow, glanced aside at the gas.

'I could have been certain I left the gas turned down,' she remarked.

'I turned it up,' said Henry.

'You got out of bed! Oh, Henry! And your temperature was a hundred and
two only the day before yesterday!'

'I thought I'd begin that thing--just for a lark, you know,' he
explained.

He drew from under the bed-clothes the household washing-book. And
there, nearly at the top of a page, were Aunt Annie's last interrupted
strokes:

'2 Ch----'

and underneath:

'LOVE IN BABYLON'

and the commencement of the tale. The marvellous man had covered nine
pages of the washing-book.

Within twenty-four hours, not only Henry, but his mother and aunt, had
become entirely absorbed in Henry's tale. The ladies wondered how he
thought of it all, and Henry himself wondered a little, too. It seemed
to 'come,' without trouble and almost without invitation. It cost no
effort. The process was as though Henry acted merely as the amanuensis
of a great creative power conce