e their box. They would have waited a
considerable time, I thought, before they would have been invited to
share _his_! I watched them drive off, and I went home mad. It was
getting too grievous for mortal to bear.

The house felt suffocating to me that evening. I could not stop in. I
determined to go and call on my old friend Miss Pimpernell, and see what
she could do to cheer me up.

"My dear boy," she said, as I entered the parlour, where she sat darning
the vicar's socks by the light of a moderator lamp, which stood on a
little table close beside her. "My dear boy, what is the matter with
you? You look quite haggard, and like a wild man from the woods! Have
you had your tea yet? I can ring for some in a moment."

"No, pray don't, thank you," I answered. "Miss Pimpernell," I
continued, in a determined voice, "I have had tea enough to-night to
last me for a twelvemonth! I can't bear this any longer. You must
introduce me to Mrs Clyde. I have never been able as yet to make her
acquaintance, and I want to go to her house as Horner does, and that
fellow Mawley."

"Hush, my dear boy!" she said, in her soothing way, as if she were
stroking me down the back like she stroked her tabby Tom--one of the
mousiest and most petted of cats. "You should not speak so of a
clergyman, my dear Frank. Think what the vicar would say if he heard
you!"

"Oh, never mind Mr Mawley," I said, somewhat petulantly; "I want to
know Mrs Clyde."

"Ah! that's what's the matter, is it, Frank? Then why did you not come
to old Sally before?"

"Well, Miss Pimpernell," I replied, "I never thought of you until to-
night."

"Never thought of me! You _are_ ungallant, Master Frank! But think of
me next time, my dear boy, whenever you find yourself in a difficulty;
and if Sally Pimpernell can help you out of it, she will, you may
depend!"

"Oh, thank you, dear Miss Pimpernell! And when will you introduce me to
Mrs Clyde?" I asked, thinking it best to "strike the iron" whilst it
was "hot."

"Come round to-morrow afternoon, Frank," she replied. "She is going to
be here by appointment, to see me about some charity in which she is
interested; and I'll try and manage it for you then."

"I'll be here, Miss Pimpernell, without fail," I said. "I can never be
sufficiently obliged to you, if you do it."

"All right, my boy," she said. "I'm sure I shall be very glad to help
you in such a trifling matter. But I do not want any of y