been in these parts for six years.
Nevertheless, I did see Rosebud some ten or twelve years ago with her
nurse in this very room."

"Yes, so you did," chimed in Miss Millet. "She was six at that time,
and the dearest little angel I ever saw."

"She was all that and a great deal more," said the enthusiastic father.
"It don't become me to have much of an opinion about the angels, but I
wouldn't give my Rosebud for the whole lot o' them, an' all the cherubs
throw'd into the bargain. Well, as I was sayin', I ran down to
Folkestone to the school where she is, and as we were partin' she made
me promise when I got to Hong-Kong to run up the river to see an old
schoolmate o' hers that had gone out there with her father. I was to
give Clara Rosebud's dear love, and her photograph, and get hers in
exchange. I would have done this, of course, for my darlin', anyhow,
but I promised all the more readily because I had some business to do
with old Nibsworth, the father.

"Well, after I'd got to Hong-Kong an' seen the ship all snug, I thought
of runnin' up the river in a small steamer that was ready to start. It
so happened that I got a letter that very day from Nibsworth himself,
who had heard of my arrival, askin' me to come without delay, as there
was a grand chance of doin' a bit of business that might turn in some
thousands of pounds. But it would have to be settled next day, or the
chance would be lost. You may be sure I didn't waste time after readin'
this, but when I got to the river-side, I found that the steamer had
started, and there wasn't another till next mornin'."

"_What_ a pity!" exclaimed the sympathetic sister and Jeff in the same
breath.

"Yes, wasn't it? Of course it wasn't a personal loss, but it was the
loss of a splendid out-o'-the-way chance to do a good turn to the
owners. It was an ill wind--Jeff, almost a disaster. Hows'ever, I had
to grin an' bear it. But I couldn't rest till next day; so I hired a
native boat, determined to do my best in the circumstances, and you may
be sure I wasn't in the best of humours, as we went creepin' slowly up
that river, when I knew that the hours of opportunity were slippin'
away.

"It was not till the evenin' o' the next day that I reached old
Nibsworth's house. Just before we rounded the bend of the river that
brought it into view, I noticed smoke risin' pretty thick above the
trees. Of course I thought nothin' of it till I found that it was the
old man