f my own--to give up
the lodgings, and to take our places in the coach, yesterday morning.
He said we were not to shame him by appearing here in rags, and he
sent me a hundred pounds, every penny of which, he said, was to be
laid out in clothes. As to the future, he said it would be his duty to
see that I brought no further disgrace upon the family."

"Yes, and he's been just as kind to me, Mother. As I told you when I
wrote, he had ordered an enormous outfit, which will, I am sure, cost
hundreds of pounds. He makes me go to the playhouses, and all sorts of
amusements; and all the time he has been so kind he scolds, and
grumbles, and predicts that I shall be hanged."

"I'm sure you won't," Kate, his youngest sister, said indignantly.
"How can he say such a thing?"

"He doesn't mean it," Charlie laughed. "It's only his way. He will go
on just the same way with you, I have no doubt; but you mustn't mind,
you know, and mustn't laugh, but must look quite grave and serious.

"Ah! Here he is.

"Oh, Uncle, this is kind of you!"

"Hold your tongue, sir," said his uncle, "and try and learn not to
speak to your elders, unless you are addressed.

"Niece Mary," he said, kissing her upon the forehead, "I am glad to
see you again. You are not so much changed as I expected.

"And these are my grandnieces, Elizabeth and Kate, though why Kate I
don't know. It is a fanciful name, and new to the family, and I am
surprised that you didn't call her Susanna, after your grandmother."

Kate made a little face at the thought of being called Susanna.
However, a warning glance from Charlie closed her lips, just as she
was about to express her decided preference for her own name. Mr.
Tufton kissed them both, muttering to himself:

"I suppose I ought to kiss them. Girls always expect to be kissed at
every opportunity.

"What are you laughing at, grandniece?"

"I don't think girls expect to be kissed, except by people they like,"
Kate said; "but we do like kissing you, Uncle," throwing her arms
round his neck, and kissing him heartily; "because you have been so
kind to Charlie, and have brought us up to see him again."

"You have disarranged my white tie, Niece," Mr. Tufton said,
extricating himself from Kate's embrace.

"Niece Mary, I fear that you have not taught your daughters to
restrain their emotions, and there is nothing so dreadful as emotional
women."

"Perhaps I have not taken so much pains with their education, in that