"Yes, that's it; I was never great at counting."

CHAPTER XII.

RELICS AND A WELCOME.

Mrs. Cameron's house in Bath was decidedly old-fashioned. It was a
large, solemn, handsome mansion; its windows shone from constant
cleaning; its paint was always fresh, its Venetian blinds in perfect
order.

When a certain wild, untidy, almost disreputable-looking girl ran up its
snow-white steps, and rang its highly polished brass bell, the neat
parlor maid who answered her summons stared at her, and doubted a good
deal if Mrs. Cameron could see her.

"You had better step into the hall for a moment," said the maidservant,
"and I'll inquire if my missis is at leisure; but if it's the new
housemaid's place you've come after----"

Flower gasped; she drew herself up, raised her hand, and took off her
small black velvet cap.

"You forget yourself!" she said, with a haughtiness which did not ill
become her, notwithstanding her untidy and dishevelled state. "My name
is Flower Dalrymple, and I have come from Sleepy Hollow. Please let your
mistress know directly."

The parlor maid, who saw her mistake, was profuse in apologies.

She showed Flower into a dismal-looking dining room, and went upstairs.

"Who is it, Ann?" asked an anxious voice as she prepared to ascend the
richly-carpeted stairs.

A door was opened at the end of the passage, and a fusty, dusty-looking
little man put in an appearance.

"Who is it, Ann? Any one for me?"

"A young lady as wants to see the missis, sir. Oh, Mr. Cameron! what a
deal of dust you has brought out into the 'all!"

The little man looked meekly down at his dusty garments.

"I have just been unpacking my last crate of curiosities from China,
Ann. Where is the young lady? Perhaps she would like to see the relics."

"No, sir, that I'm sure she wouldn't; she's all blown and spent like.
She's for all the world like a relic herself."

Ann tripped lightly upstairs, and Mr. Cameron, pushing his spectacles
high up on his bald forehead, looked with an anxious glance to right and
left. Then very quickly on tiptoe he crossed the hall, opened the
dining-room door, and went in.

"How are you, young lady? If you are very quick, I can get you into my
sanctum sanctorum. I am just unpacking Chinese relics. I trust, I hope,
you are fond of relics."

Flower started to her feet.

"I thought, I certainly thought, Polly said _Mrs._ Cameron," she
remarked. "I don't think I shall be at all afr