bsolutely truthful, she added, "That is,--I did find it
so, Uncle John,--until these last two weeks."

"Precisely!" said Mr. Montfort. "Not a word, my dear! I understand you.
You are fond of children, I think, Margaret?"

"Very fond," said Margaret, thinking that Uncle John was strange indeed
to-day.

"Get on well with them, I should suppose. You had a great deal of
influence over Peggy, Margaret."

"Dear, good Peggy! She was so ready to be influenced, Uncle John. She
was just waiting to--to be helped on a little, don't you know?"

"Yes; so Rita thought, if I remember aright!" said Mr. Montfort, dryly.
"But with younger children, eh? You have had some experience of them,
perhaps, Margaret?"

Was he still joking? Margaret had not much sense of humour, and she was
sadly puzzled again.

"I--I love little children," she said. "Of course I do, Uncle John!"

"Little children,--yes. But how about boys? Active, noisy,
happy-go-lucky boys? Boys that smash windows, and yell, and tear their
clothes on barbed-wire fences? How about those, Margaret?"

"Is that the kind of boy you were, Uncle John?" asked Margaret, smiling.
"Because if so, I am sure I shall like them very much."

"Very well, my dear child!" he said. "You are well and happy, and we
understand each other, and that is all right, very right. Now,
Margaret,--I ask this for form's sake merely,--have you been in this
room before, to-day?"

"No, Uncle John," said Margaret.

"Of course you have not. Knew it before I asked you. Do you notice
anything unusual in the appearance of the room, my dear?"

Margaret looked about her, wondering. It produced an impression
of--well, not just the perfect order in which it was generally to be
found. Several drawers were half open; a sheaf of papers lay on the
floor, as if dropped by a startled hand. The writing things were
disarranged, slightly, yet noticeably; for Mr. Montfort always kept them
in one position, which was never changed save when they were in actual
use.

"Why, it looks--as if--as if you had been in a hurry, Uncle John," she
said at last.

"It looks as if _some one_ had been in a hurry," said Mr. Montfort,
significantly. "I have not been in this room before, to-day; I found it
in this condition. Never mind, my dear! I am going to write a letter
now. Don't let me keep you any longer."

Margaret went away, wondering much; her uncle joined her soon, and they
looked at the roses together, and chatted as usua