ie, who took it and
pressed it gently.

Willie felt a wonderfully strong sensation within his heart as he looked
into the sufferer's large liquid eyes; and for a few seconds he could
not speak. Suddenly he exclaimed, "Well, you ain't one bit like what I
expected to see. You're more like a angel than a fairy."

Ziza smiled again, and said she didn't feel like either the one or the
other.

"My poor lamb," said the clown, sitting down on the bed, and parting the
dark hair on Ziza's forehead, with a hand as gentle as that of a mother,
"we're goin' now. Time's up. Shall I ask Mrs Smith to stay with you
again, till we come back?"

"Oh, no, no!" cried the child hurriedly, and squeezing her fingers into
her eyes, as if to shut out some disagreeable object. "Not Mrs Smith.
I'd rather be alone."

"I _wish_ I could stay with you, Ziza," said Jim earnestly.

"It's of no use wishin', Jim," said his father, "you can't get off a
single night. If you was to fail 'em you'd lose your engagement, and we
can't afford that just at this time, you know; but I'll try to get Mrs
James to come. She's a good woman, I know, and--"

"Mister Cattley," interrupted Willie, "if you'll allow a partic'larly
humble individual to make a observation, I would say there's nothin' in
life to prevent me from keeping this 'ere fairy company till you come
back. I've nothin' particular to do as I knows on, an' I'm raither fond
of lonely meditation; so if the fairy wants to go to sleep, it'll make
no odds to me, so long's it pleases her."

"Thankee, lad," said the clown; "but you'll git wearied, I fear, for we
won't be home till mornin'--"

"Ah!" interrupted Willie, "till daylight does appear. But that's no
odds, neither--'cause I'm not married yet, so there's nobody awaitin'
for me--and" (he winked to Jim at this point) "my mother knows I'm out."

The clown grinned at this. "You'd make one of _us_, youngster," said
he, "if ye can jump. Howsever, I'm obliged by your offer, so you can
stay if Ziza would like it."

Ziza said she _would_ like it with such goodwill, that Willie adored her
from that moment, and vowed in his heart he would nurse her till she--he
did not like to finish the sentence; yet, somehow, the little that he
had heard and seen of the child led him irresistibly to the conclusion
that she was dying.

This having been satisfactorily arranged, the Cattleys, senior and
junior, threw cloaks round them, exchanged their wigs for c