"Oh," she said, "it is Jamie Waring, and
I have been trying to find him for weeks and weeks! I have no right to
claim him, I know; but I have wanted him for such a long, long time. To
see him safe and well, after such a weary search----"

She broke off abruptly. The brown man was standing in front of her with
his eyes fixed on her face; he was gazing at her so earnestly,
sincerely, and wistfully that for an instant she almost lost herself.
Jamie's gaze was less sympathetic; he looked puzzled, and kept very
close to his protectress.

"I found Jamie with some organ-grinders," said the lady, recovering her
composure, and speaking in rather a cold voice. "The organ-woman was
beating him, and I stopped my carriage to interfere. They were in a
quiet road near Lee, and of course there was no policeman to be seen. I
asked the child if he belonged to these people, and he cried, 'No, no!'
and clung to me. I saw that he was not dirty and neglected; his clothes
were rather poor, but there was nothing of the tramp about him. To make
a long story short, I fell in love with you--didn't I, Jamie?--and so I
took you home with me and waited for you to be claimed, but no one ever
claimed you."

Her fair face softened as she looked down at the child, and her voice
grew tender when she spoke to him. He still stood clasping her hand and
resting his head against her dress.

"He has no relations," Elsie said. "No one has any right to take him
from you."

Mrs. Penn, flushed and half-sobbing, came up at this moment, and she,
too, extended her arms to the boy. But at the sight of her he drew
himself up to his full height and waved his hand with the majesty of a
little king. "Go away!" he said. "Go away home!"

"Oh, Jamie!" she cried; "aren't you glad to see me again?"

"No!" he answered, with another wave of the dimpled hand. "I don't love
you a bit! You let Maria beat me. I hate Maria. I won't come with you!"

For a moment no one spoke. The brown man was evidently much amused by
the little scene, and looked at the boy with undisguised approval.

"Was this child left in your charge?" the lady asked, addressing Mrs.
Penn with cold severity.

"There was no one to take him, madam," the crestfallen woman replied.
"He was living with Miss Neale, who was a lodger of mine, and she died,
quite suddenly, in my house. His father----"

"His father had deserted him." It was Mrs. Beaton who spoke. She had
reached the little group, and having but