husband. "Keep it a
secret, my boy."

"But you--you don't believe it?" stammered the crestfallen Mr. Foss.

Mrs. Dowson cast a stealthy glance at her daughter. "Its wonderful 'ow
some o' those fortune-tellers can see into the future," she said, shaking
her head.

"Ah!" said her husband, with a confirmatory nod. "Wonderful is no name
for it. I 'ad my fortune told once when I was a boy, and she told me I
should marry the prettiest, and the nicest, and the sweetest-tempered gal
in Poplar."

Mr. Foss, with a triumphant smile, barely waited for him to finish.
"There you--" he began, and stopped suddenly.

[Illustration: "I just came in to tell you a joke."]

"What was you about to remark?" inquired Mrs. Dowson, icily.

"I was going to say," replied Mr. Foss--"I was going to say--I 'ad just
got it on the tip o' my tongue to say, 'There you--you--you 'ad all the
luck, Mr. Dowson.'"

He edged his chair a little nearer to Flora; but there was a chilliness
in the atmosphere against which his high spirits strove in vain. Mr.
Dowson remembered other predictions which had come true, notably the case
of one man who, learning that he was to come in for a legacy, gave up a
two-pound-a-week job, and did actually come in for twenty pounds and a
bird-cage seven years afterwards.

[Illustration: "He edged his chair a little nearer to Flora."]

"It's all nonsense," protested Mr. Foss; "she only said all that because
I made fun of her. You don't believe it, do you, Flora?"

"I don't see anything to laugh at," returned Miss Dowson. "Fancy five
years for bigamy! Fancy the disgrace of it!"

"But you're talking as if I was going to do it," objected Mr. Foss. "I
wish you'd go and 'ave your fortune told. Go and see what she says about
you. P'r'aps you won't believe so much in fortune-telling afterwards."

Mrs. Dowson looked up quickly, and then, lowering her eyes, took her hand
out of the stocking she had been darning and, placing it beside its
companion, rolled the pair into a ball.

"You go round to-morrow night, Flora," she said, deliberately. "It
sha'n't be said a daughter of mine was afraid to hear the truth about
herself; father'll find the money."

"And she can say what she likes about you, but I sha'n't believe it,"
said Mr. Foss, reproachfully.

"I don't suppose it'll be anything to be ashamed of," said Miss Dowson,
sharply.

Mr. Foss bade them good-night suddenly, and, finding himself accompanied
to the