g did you have him?'

'Six weeks then--and afterwards one fortnight at Dieppe. He was not
free. He had an old uncle, General Egremont, who was sick and
hot-tempered, and he was obliged to keep everything secret from him,
and therefore from everybody else. And so I was to live at Dieppe,
while he went out to take care of his uncle, and you know--you know--'

'Yes, I know, dear mother. But I am sure he was saving somebody else,
and it was a noble death! And I know how Aunt Ursel came to Dieppe,
and how I--your own little Frenchwoman--came to take care of you. And
haven't we been jolly without any of these fine relations that never
looked after you all this time? Besides, you know he is very likely to
be on a lonely coral island, and will come home yet. I often think he
is.'

'My dear child, I have been happier than I deserved,' said Alice
Egremont, drying her eyes. 'But oh! Nuttie, I hope you will be a wiser
woman than your mother.'

'Come, don't go on in that way! Why, I've such advantages! I've Miss
Mary, and Aunt Ursel, and Mr. Spyers, and Mr. Dutton, and you, you poor
little thing, had nobody! One good thing is, we shall get the
water-soldier. Mr. Dutton needn't come, for he's like a cat, and won't
soil his boots, but Gerard is dying to get another look at the old
ruin. He can't make up his mind about the cross on one of the
stone-coffin lids, so he'll be delighted to come, and he'll get it out
of the pond for us. I wonder when we can go. To-night is choir
practice, and to-morrow is cutting-out day.'

Miss Headworth was not sorry that the small sociabilities of the
friends did not leave her alone with her niece all that evening, or the
next day, when there was a grand cutting-out for the working party,--an
operation always performed in the holidays. Miss Headworth had of late
years been excused from it, and it gave her the opportunity she wanted
of a consultation with Mr. Dutton. He was her prime adviser in
everything, from her investments (such as they were) to the
eccentricities of her timepieces; and as the cuckoo-clock had that
night cuckooed all the hours round in succession, no one thought it
wonderful that she should send a twisted note entreating him to call as
early as he could in the afternoon. Of course Nuttie's chatter had
proclaimed the extraordinary visitors, and it needed not the old lady's
dash under "on an anxious affair" to bring him to her little
drawing-room as soon as he co