Dale, who carried a double burden, to poor big Danny, to her
brave little mother who had sheltered her so valiantly from the
coarsening things about her that she might keep "fine" and have "fine"
things.

The next day the nurse let Robin dress, to poor Harkness' tearful
delight. And Robin, roaming the house as though she had returned to it
from a long absence, found, indeed, the change she had prophesied. For
Mrs. Budge, in strangely genial mood, was fussily preparing more
delectable invalid dishes than a dozen convalescing Susies or well
Robins could possibly eat.

One little cloud, however, shadowed Budge's relief. She wished she
hadn't sent the letter to the lawyer-man. "If I'd remembered how my
grandmother always said to look out for the written word, and held my
tongue," she mourned and so complete was her transformation that she
forgot she had written that letter while in full pursuit of her duty to
the Forsyths--as she had seen it then.

Upon this new order of things Cornelius Allendyce arrived, unheralded,
and very tired from a long journey. Budge's letter had been forwarded to
him at Miami where he had been pleasantly recuperating from his siege of
sciatica. It had disturbed him tremendously, and he had spent the long
hours on the railroad train upbraiding himself for his neglect of his
ward. The conditions at which Budge had clumsily hinted grew more
serious as he thought of them, until he found himself wondering if
perhaps he ought not to smuggle his little ward back to her fifth-floor
home before Madame discovered the havoc she had made of the Forsyth
traditions.

Outwardly, the Manor appeared the same, to the lawyer's intense relief.
Within, the most startling change seemed the laughing voices that
floated out to him from the library. Harkness took his coat and hat and
bag a little excitedly and with repeated nods toward the library.

"Miss Robin'll be mighty glad to see you, I'm sure; but she has a lydy
guest for dinner."

"The man actually acts as though I had no right to come unannounced,"
thought Cornelius Allendyce.

Robin met him with a rush and a glad little cry. "I thought you were
never, _never_ coming! I'm so glad. But why didn't you send us word? I
want you to know Beryl's mother and Beryl. They're my best friends. And,
oh, I have _so_ much to tell you!"

"Mrs. Lynch!" A line of Budge's letter flashed across the man's mind,
yet he found himself talking to a gentle-faced woman with grave