fond of
me, and I have a much better time with him than I had in shabby, dirty
lodgings at Shepherd's Bush. I don't want him to go to that school
to-morrow; but I thought it right to let Maggie know he was coming,
for, all the same, go he will. When James puts his foot down he is a
very determined man."

"This is altogether a most unpleasant interview," said Lady Lysle,
"and I have only come here at my niece's request.--Perhaps, Aneta, we
can go now."

"Not yet, auntie darling.--Mrs. Martin, Maggie and I had a long talk
yesterday, and will you put this matter into my hands?"

"Good heavens! what next?" murmured Lady Lysle to herself.

"Will you give me your husband's address, and may I go to see him?"

"You mean the--the--shop?" said Mrs. Martin.

"I don't go into that shop!" said Lady Lysle.

"Yes, I mean the shop," said Aneta. "I want to go and see him there."

"Oh, he will be so angry, and I am really terrified of him when he is
angry."

"But think how much more angry he will be if you don't give me that
address, and things happen to-morrow which you little expect. Oh!
please trust me."

Aneta said a few more words, and in the end she was in possession of
that address at Shepherd's Bush where Martin the grocer's flourishing
shop was to be found.

"Thank you so very much, Mrs. Martin. I don't think you will ever
regret this," said the girl.

Lady Lysle bowed to the wife of the grocer as she went out, but Aneta
took her hand.

"Perhaps you never quite understood Maggie," she said; "and perhaps,
in the future, you won't have a great deal to say to her."

"I don't want to; she never suited me a bit," said the mother, "and I
am very happy with Bo-peep."

"Well, at least you may feel," said Aneta, "that I am going to be
Maggie's special friend."

Mrs. Martin stood silent while Lady Lysle and her niece walked down
the little path and got into the carriage. When the carriage rolled
away she burst into a flood of tears. She did not know whether she was
glad or sorry; but, somehow, she had faith in Aneta. Was she never
going to see Maggie again? She was not quite without maternal love for
her only child, but she cared very much more for Bo-peep, and quite
felt that Maggie would be a most troublesome inmate of Laburnum
Villa.

"Now, Aneta," said her aunt as the carriage rolled away, "I have gone
through enough in your service for one day."

"You haven't been at all nice, auntie," said Aneta; "but perha