ughed. "You will find him very ignorant, I fear," he said;
"but I think he will be industrious."

"We shall see, we shall see," said the doctor, and his small eyes
twinkled kindly. "By the way," he said, suddenly turning from Ambrose
and lifting a great volume from the pile on the floor, "here is the
passage I spoke of the other day."

They both bent over the book with such earnest attention that Ambrose
knew they would say nothing more about him for some time. Much
relieved, he edged himself on to the corner of a chair that was not
quite covered with books and papers, and looked round him.

Many curious things caught his eye, huddled together without any order
on the mantel-piece, and among the books on the window-seat--fossils and
odd-looking shells, cobwebby bottles, in which floated strange objects
without shape or make. Splendid things for a museum, thought Ambrose,
as his eyes roved among them, but how dusty and untidy, and no labels.
How careful he and David had been to keep their museum neat and well
arranged! The poor museum! Since the unlucky venture with the crock
there had not been one single curiosity added to it. Disgrace seemed to
hang over it, and it was seldom spoken of among the children at all.

Dr Budge's curiosities brought all this back to Ambrose's mind, and he
quite longed to dust and label them for him. He might be a very learned
man, but he certainly was not an orderly one.

Coming to this conclusion, he turned his eyes to the window and
discovered something there which interested him still more, for in a
wicker cage above the doctor's head there was a lively little jackdaw.
He was a smart active bird with glossy plumage, and looked strangely out
of place amongst the quiet old brown books and dusty objects in the
room. Ambrose gazed at him with satisfaction. He had a jackdaw at
home, and when he saw this one he felt at once that he and his future
master would have one thing in common if they both liked jackdaws. The
bird's presence made him feel less shy and strange, so that Dr Budge
was no longer quite such an awful person, and when he said good-bye he
was able to look up at him of his own accord.

After this the day soon came when father, mother, Dickie, baby, and
nurse were all driven off to the station with their boxes, and parcels,
and bundles of shawls. Added to these, all sorts of toys were handed in
at the last moment, which could not be packed, and which Dickie refused