of the House.

"No, miss, not this time," he answered.

"I am sorry for that," she said, "for I like to think of people doing
the things they tell about. But I suppose we can't have that every
time."

"Oh, no," said her mother; "and if John has an interesting story about
anybody else, let him tell it."

The gardener began promptly. "The name of this story is 'The Lady in the
Box,'" said he, "and, with the exception of the lady, the principal
personage in it was a young man who lived in Florence toward the end of
the last century."

"And how did you come to know the story?" asked the Daughter of the
House. "Has it ever been told before?"

Now there was need to assert himself, if John Gayther did not wish to
lose grace with his hearers, and he was equal to the occasion. "It has
never been printed," said he, quietly but boldly. "It came to me in the
most straightforward way, step by step."

"Very good," said the Mistress of the House; "I like a story to come in
that way."

"The young man, whose name was Jaqui," continued John Gayther, "was of
good parts, but not in very good circumstances. He was a student of
medicine, and was the assistant of a doctor, which means that he did
all the hard work, such as attending to the shop, mixing the drugs, and
even going out to see very poor patients in bad weather. Jaqui's
employer--master, in fact--was Dr. Torquino, an elderly man of much
reputation in his town. The doctor expected Jaqui to be his successor,
and as the years went on the younger man began to visit patients in good
circumstances who fell sick in fine weather. At last Dr. Torquino made a
bargain with Jaqui by which the latter was to pay certain sums of money
to the old man's heirs, and then the stock and good-will of the
establishment were formally made over to him; and, shortly afterwards,
the old doctor died. But before his death he told Jaqui everything that
it was necessary for him to know in regard to the property and the
business to which he had succeeded.

[Illustration: The gardener began promptly.]

"Torquino's house was a very good one, consisting of three floors. On the
ground floor were the shop, the private office, and the living-rooms. The
old doctor and Jaqui lodged on the third floor. The second floor was very
handsomely furnished, but was not then occupied--at least, not in the
ordinary way. It belonged to Dr. Paltravi, the old doctor's former
partner; a somewhat younger man, and married. H