er till a beautiful prince made her better. Oh, but I shouldn't have
told you that jest now. You must pitend that you forget I have told
you. So then the beautiful princess--her true name was Mabel, but only
I call her Norah because her hair was gold--"

Now it was Jack's turn to gasp and search in vain for the connection
between Norah and golden hair! It proved as impossible to discover as
that between a sore throat and the Piper of Hamelin, but there was
another allusion in the story which was too fortunate to be allowed to
pass unnoticed.

"The princess was lame, was she? and no one could make her better but
the prince? That's very interesting. Could you tell me, now, how he
managed the cure? It might be useful to me someday."

"Was your princess a lame princess?"

"I think you had better go on with your story, Viva!" Jack said
hurriedly. "Your mother may call you away before it is finished, and I
should be disappointed. When did the prince arrive on the scene?"

"It doesn't get to that yet. So the princess lived in a house where
there were no stairs. Only one day when she was walking through the
wood, there was a little house and she went in, and she said, `Oh, what
funny things!' and she went up them, and she tumbled down, and her foot
was underneaf, so she was lame. An' she lay on the sofa, and the queen-
mamma cried, and the godfathers and the godmuzzers came flying up, only
they could do nothing, and the king said anyone should have the land who
made her better, an' thousands an' thousands tried, an' at last the
prince came riding along on a white horse, an' he looked froo the
window--"

"Jack dear, will you please come to the drawing-room? We want to
consult you!" Bridgie's head peered round the corner of the door, her
cheeks quite pink, her eyes shining with excitement. She gripped her
brother's arm as he came to meet her, and whispered, "It's the most
extraordinary thing--she really means it! She is charming, Jack,
charming; I can't say `No' to her. Come and try what you can do!"

But Jack was not a good hand at saying "No," least of all to charming
ladies, and Mrs Wallace took his measure at once, and felt that she had
gained a friend.

"I am trying to persuade Miss O'Shaughnessy to lend your little sister
to me for a short time every day, to help me with my children," she
said, smiling at him under lifted brows. "I understand that you knew
nothing about her application, and when