hat does Dr. Flynch say, my child?"

"He says my mother deceived him; that she told him a falsehood; and
that she had money, when she didn't have a cent."

"It is too bad, mother!" exclaimed Grace.

"Hush, Grace; probably Dr. Flynch knows best, for he certainly would
not turn a poor sick woman out of doors because she did not pay the
rent. There may be, as he says, some deception about it, which he can
penetrate and we cannot."

"There is no deception about it, ma'am," pleaded Katy, much disturbed
by this sudden damper upon her hopes. "She has not got a single cent.
She wouldn't tell a lie, and I wouldn't either."

There was something in the eloquence and earnestness of the child that
deeply impressed the mind of the lady, and she could hardly resist the
conclusion that her agent had, in this instance, made a mistake. But
she had great confidence in Dr. Flynch, and she was very unwilling to
believe that he could be so harsh and cruel as the little girl
represented. She had heard of the tricks of the vicious poor, and while
she was disposed to be very tender of a needy tenant, she must be just
to her agent.

"It is now half-past ten," continued Mrs. Gordon.

"You shall remain here, my child, and I will send Michael down to
Colvin Court to inquire into the situation of your mother. He must be
impartial for he knows nothing about the case."

"Thank you, ma'am," said Katy, with a promptness which assured Grace,
if not her mother, that the little girl was honest.

Mrs. Gordon rang the bell, and when Michael answered the summons, she
attended him to the street door, where she instructed him to call upon
Mrs. Redburn, and also to inquire of the grocer at the corner, and of
her neighbors, what sort of a person she was. The lady returned to the
sitting-room when he had gone, and asked Katy a great many questions
about herself and her mother, and thus nearly an hour was consumed, at
the end of which time Michael returned. Katy had answered all the
lady's questions fairly, though without betraying her family history,
which her mother had cautioned her to keep to herself, that she was
prepared to receive a favorable report from her man.

"Well, Michael, did you find the woman at home?" asked Mrs. Gordon, as
the man presented himself.

"Indeed, I deed, marm."

"What was she doing?"

"She was fast in bed, and told me she hadn't been out of it for twelve
weeks come Saturday."

"What does the grocer say?"

"He says