did you come to know him?' asked Lady Isobel with interest. So
Bobby plunged into the story of the rescue of Nobbles, and she listened
to it with smiling sympathy.

'I must talk to Miss Robsart about him when she comes here. Now go to
sleep like a good boy, and to-morrow morning, if it is fine, you must
come with me and see the dear little cottage that Miss Robsart is going
to live in.'

So Bobby gave her a hug and kiss, and, clasping Nobbles in his arms,
laid his head upon his pillow, murmuring:

'Me and Nobbles is 'stremely glad to be in the house where we growed up
in, and it's much better than we ever especked!'

The nursery breakfast the next morning was a very cheery one. Margot's
round smiling face was a picture.

'Ah!' she said, 'there's a verse in the Bible about lines falling in
pleasant places, and that is just what I feel like now. I won't deny I
was getting a bit old for much housework, and as to that crowded dirty
London, I only hope I shan't ever set foot in it again! And I won't
deny that a house, where every penny has not to be thought of, is a
very pleasant place to live in!'

We're going to see Miss Robsart's little cottage after breakfast,' said
True. 'Will you come too, Margot?'

'Oh, no, I'm going to unpack you both, and settle your things in all
the nice drawers and cupboards we have. Dear heart! I begin to think
it was a good day that brought Master Bobby to us!'

A short time afterwards both children were walking with Lady Isobel
down the road to see the cottage. Bobby eagerly pointed out to them
familiar landmarks.

'That's where that horrid boy broke poor Nobbles! And that's our
milkman's house, and there's the chestnut tree where I pick up
chestnuts when they drop.'

Then Lady Isobel turned up a lane out of the high-road. A little white
gate stood in the quickset hedge, which Lady Isobel opened, and there,
in a pretty rustic garden, was a white-washed cottage with a thatched
roof and old-fashioned casement windows. A jasmine and rose climbed
over its porch. The door was painted green, and everything looked
fresh and clean. Lady Isobel unlocked the door, and Bobby and True
stepped in with exclamations of delight. One sunny sitting-room on
either side of the door, a tiny kitchen behind, and three bedrooms
above, were all the rooms the cottage contained, but it had a sweet old
kitchen garden behind, and three apple-trees were brightening the
background with their sno