look at the rooms Mrs. Blank
recommended to us. This afternoon we will rest and write letters, unless
some one comes to call,' said Livy, leading her girls to the
reading-room, where sleep-inviting chairs, tables supplied with
writing-materials, and groves of newspapers, wooed the stranger to
repose.

Hardly were they seated, however, than Jeames brought in the card of a
friend who had been told when they would arrive, and hastened at once to
meet them. How pleasant is the first familiar face one sees in a strange
land! Doubly pleasant was Mr. C.'s, because he brought hospitable
invitations from other friends, kind welcomes, and tickets to several of
the art exhibitions then open.

Hardly had he gone, after a half-hour's chat, than another card was
handed, and the name it bore caused a slight flutter in the dove-cot. A
friend of Miss Livy's, in Boston, had sent orders to his brother in
London to devote himself to the wandering ladies when they came. They
had never met; the poor man didn't care to have his quiet invaded by
strange women, and to do the honours of London is no small task: yet
this heroic gentleman obeyed orders without a murmur; and, leaving his
artistic seclusion, shouldered his burden with the silent courage of a
Spartan.

A grave, dark, little man, with fine eyes, quiet manners, and a
straight-forward way with him that suited blunt Livy excellently. How
he dared to face the three unknown women so calmly, listen to their
impossible suggestions so politely, and offer himself as a slave so
cheerfully, will for ever remain a mystery to those grateful souls.

His first service was to pack them into a cab and bear them safely to
the bankers for letters and money; and this he followed up by several
weeks of servitude, which must have been worse than Egyptian bondage.

Two more large ladies joined the party after they were settled in
lodgings at Kensington; but, undaunted by the fact, this long-suffering
man escorted the whole five to galleries and theatres, trips into the
city, and picnics in the country; went shopping with them, lugged
parcels, ran errands, paid bills, and was in fact the sheet-anchor of
the whole party. Imagine the emotions of one shy man when called upon
to lead a flock of somewhat imposing ladies everywhere; to have two cabs
full on all occasions; to be obliged to support the invalids to follow
the caprices of the giddy, to gratify the demands of the curious, and to
hear the gabble