liday, too,
though we don't keep it up in Plymouth: I dare say the lady thought
'pon that. In my bachelor days I used to be Jack in the Green
reggilar."

"It's just as well I never saw ye, then," said his wife tartly.
"And to imagine that a lady like Miss Plinlimmon would concern
herself with your deboshes! But you'd lower the King on his throne."

Indeed, Mr. Trapp went on to give some colour to this. "I wonder
what she means, talking about Roman goddesses?" he mused. "I seen
one, once, in a penny show; and it was marked outside 'Men only
Admitted.'"

Mrs. Trapp swept me from the room.

On May-day, then, I entered Mr. Tucker's Bun Shop with a beating
heart, a scrubbed face and a sprig of southernwood in my button-hole,
and Miss Plinlimmon fell on my neck and kissed me. All the formality
of the Genevan Hospital dropped away from her as a garment, and left
only the tender formality of her own nature, so human that it amazed
me. I had never really known her until now. She had prepared a
feast, including Mr. Tucker's famous cheese-cakes, "as patronised by
Queen Charlotte," and cakes called "maids of honour." "To my mind,"
said Miss Plinlimmon, taking one, "there is always an air of
refinement about this shop." She praised my growth, and the
cleanliness of my skin, and the care with which Mrs. Trapp kept my
clothes; and laughed when I reported some of Mrs. Trapp's sayings--
but tremulously: indeed, more than once her eyes brimmed as she gazed
across the table. "You cannot think how happy I am!" she almost
whispered, and broke off to draw my attention to a young officer who
had entered the shop, with two ladies in fresh summer gowns of
sprigged muslin, and who stood by the counter buying sweetmeats.
"If you can do so without staring, Harry, always make a point of
observing such people as that. You will be surprised at the little
hints you pick up." I told her, growing bold, that I knew no finer
lady than she, and never wanted to--which I still think a happy and
highly creditable speech for a boy of eleven. She flushed with
pleasure. "I have birth, I hope," she said, and with that her colour
deepened, perhaps with a suspicion that this might hurt my feelings.
"But since our reverses," she went on hurriedly, "we Plinlimmons have
stood still; and one should move with the times. I am not with those
who think good manners need be old-fashioned ones." She recurred to
Mrs. Trapp. "I feel sure she must be an e