grew clear; and he said firmly:

"It looks the only solution; and after all why shouldn't you adopt the
Lump? People do adopt children."

"Not dukes," said the duke coldly.

"Oh, if you break the ice, I expect they'll adopt them by the dozen,"
said the Honourable John Ruffin cheerfully. "There isn't any real
reason why you shouldn't. You have this new and very proper desire to
become thoroughly domesticated. The Lump is one of the very people to
gratify it. Besides, it will give the people at the court something to
talk about, and take their minds off Pollyooly."

"I should jolly well think it would!" growled the duke.

"Well, it's the only thing to do," said the Honourable John Ruffin.

"Do you think so?" said the duke doubtfully; and he blinked.

"I'm sure of it," said the Honourable John Ruffin confidently. "You
can't have Pollyooly without the Lump."

The duke shook his head, turned to Pollyooly, and said:

"I tell you what: I'll make it eight pounds a week, if you'll come
alone."

Pollyooly shook her head and said sadly:

"I couldn't, your Grace. I couldn't really."

It looked indeed like a blind alley; but in the end the duke yielded.
His heart was set on carrying through this scheme for regaining his
duchess. His mind was so rarely guilty of ingenuity that he could not
bear to discourage it. They set themselves, therefore, to making the
presence of the Lump at Ricksborough Court plausible. Fortunately he
was too young to spoil their plan by indiscreet babble, had he been a
babbling child. To the minds of the servants at Ricksborough Court,
minds so carefully trained in the board schools of England, his
pregnant grunts would convey no meaning.

Then arose the question of a becoming outfit; and into this matter the
Honourable John Ruffin threw himself with enthusiasm. He saw his way
to remove the burden of new summer clothes for herself and the Lump
from Pollyooly's slender resources for several years.

More than once the duke protested that he was not taking the children
to live at the court for the rest of the century; and when the
Honourable John Ruffin thoughtfully tried to edge in a few winter
vests, he protested hotly that he was not fitting out an expedition to
discover the North Pole, or the South.

His warm opposition only excited the combative instinct of the
Honourable John Ruffin. Coldly he urged the well-known inclemency of
the English summer; surely the duke did not wis