nd no wonder, indeed!" said Mrs Billings. "Perhaps, then, you can tell
me how those acorns and that handkerchief came to be in your pocket."

"I can," said Mr. Billings, "and I will."

"You had better," said Mrs. Billings.

III. THE TWELVE ACORNS AND THE LADY'S HANDKERCHIEF

You may have noticed, my dear (said Mr. Billings), that the initials on
that handkerchief are "T. M. C.," and I wish you to keep that in mind,
for it has a great deal to do with this story. Had they been anything
else that handkerchief would not have found its way into my pocket; and
when you see how those acorns and that handkerchief, and the half-filled
nursing-bottle and the auburn-red curls all combined to keep me out of
my home until the unearthly hour of three A. M., you will forget the
unjust suspicions which I too sadly fear you now hold against me, and
you will admit that a half-filled patent nursing-bottle, a trio of
curls, a lady's handkerchief and twelve acorns were the most natural
things in the world to find in my pockets.

When I had left the poor woman with her no-longer-starving baby I
hurriedly glanced into a store window, and by the clock there saw it
was twenty minutes of one and that I had exactly time to catch the one
o'clock train, which is the last train that runs to Westcote. I glanced
up and down the street, but not a car was in sight, and I knew I could
not afford to wait long if I wished to catch that train. There was but
one thing to do, and that was to take a cab, and, as luck would have
it, at that moment an automobile cab came rapidly around the corner. I
raised my voice and my arm, and the driver saw or heard me, for he made
a quick turn in the street and drew up at the curb beside me. I hastily
gave him the directions, jumped in and slammed the door shut, and the
auto-cab immediately started forward at what seemed to me unsafe speed.

We had not gone far when something in the fore part of the automobile
began to thump in a most alarming manner, and the driver slackened his
speed, drew up to the curb and stopped. He opened the door and put his
head in.

"Something's gone wrong," he said, "but don't you worry. I'll have it
fixed in no time, and then I can put on more speed and I'll get you
there in just the same time as if nothing had happened."

When he said this I was perfectly satisfied, for he was a nice-looking
man, and I lay back, for I was quite tired out, it was so long past my
usual bedtime; and the