on each knee.
Every few minutes he looked over his shoulder to see whether Aunt Selina
was coming, and by and by the bell rang. Jimmy rose from his chair and
the cats jumped to the floor, and, going close to the window, he saw his
aunt's tall, thin figure on the doorstep.

CHAPTER IV

AUNT SELINA AT HOME

Miss Morton had been to lunch with a friend, and she naturally expected
to find her house exactly the same as she had left it. She was a lady
who always liked to find things exactly the same as she left them; she
did not care for fresh faces or fresh places, and she certainly did not
care to see two boxes in her hall.

Miss Morton was a little short-sighted, but the moment that she entered
the house she noticed something unusual. So she stopped just within the
door before the butler could shut it and put on her double eye-glasses,
and then she stared in astonishment at Jimmy's boxes.

'What are those?' she asked.

'Boxes, miss,' was the answer.

'Please don't be stupid,' said Miss Morton.

'I beg pardon,' replied the butler.

'I see quite distinctly that they are boxes,' she said. 'What I wish to
know is, whom the boxes belong to.'

'To Master Wilmot,' said the butler.

Miss Morton gave such a violent start that her eye-glasses fell from her
nose.

'Master Wilmot!' she exclaimed.

'Yes, miss.'

'You do not mean to tell me that the boy is here!'

'He's been here since about two o'clock,' said the butler.

'Surely he did not come alone?' cried Miss Morton.

'No, miss.'

'Who brought him?'

'A young lady who seemed to be his governess,' the butler explained.
'She said that Miss Lawson was ill, and that she'd sent all the young
gentlemen home.'

'This is certainly not his home,' said Miss Morton.

'No, miss,' answered Jones. 'I told the young lady you wouldn't be best
pleased, but she insisted on leaving him.'

'Where is Master Wilmot?' asked Miss Morton.

'In the dining-room,' was the answer, and the butler opened the door.

Miss Morton had spoken rather loudly, quite loudly enough for Jimmy to
overhear every word she had said. It made him feel uncomfortable, and as
the door opened he stood with his back to the window, with his hands in
his jacket pockets, waiting until his Aunt Selina entered the room, and
the butler shut the door after her.

She put on her eye-glasses again, and it seemed a long time before
either she or Jimmy spoke. She moved her head as if she were looking at