ialties, the kitchen door opened
and somebody walked in. Before we could move, a big, handsome,
bewhiskered man in a fur coat appeared in the dining-room doorway.

I wasn't frightened. He seemed quite respectable, I thought, and I
supposed he was some intimate friend of Uncle Norman's. I rose
politely and said, "Good day."

You never saw such an expression of amazement as was on that poor
man's face. He looked from me to Alberta and from Alberta to Elizabeth
and from Elizabeth to me again as if he doubted the evidence of his
eyes.

"Mr. and Mrs. Norman Young are not at home," I explained, pitying him.
"They went to Streatham this morning because Mrs. Young's sister is
very ill."

"What does all this mean?" said the big man gruffly. "This isn't
Norman Young's house ... it is mine. I'm William Young. Who are you?
And what are you doing here?"

I fell back into my chair, speechless. My very first impulse was to
put up my hand and cover the gold watch. Alberta had dropped the
carving knife and was trying desperately to get the gold bracelet off
under the table. In a flash we had realized our mistake and its
awfulness. As for me, I felt positively frightened; Margaret Hannah's
warnings of old had left an ineffaceable impression.

Elizabeth rose to the occasion. Rising to the occasion is another of
Elizabeth's specialties. Besides, she was not hampered by the tingling
consciousness that she was wearing a gift that had not been intended
for her.

"We have made a mistake, I fear," she said, with a dignity which I
appreciated even in my panic, "and we are very sorry for it. We were
invited to spend Christmas with Mr. and Mrs. Norman Young. When we got
off the train we were given a letter from them stating that they were
summoned away but telling us to go to their house and make ourselves
at home. The stationmaster told us that this was the house, so we came
here. We have never been in Monkshead, so we did not know the
difference. Please pardon us."

I had got off the watch by this time and laid it on the table,
unobserved, as I thought. Alberta, not having the key of the
bracelet, had not been able to get it off, and she sat there crimson
with shame. As for Uncle William, there was positively a twinkle in
his eye. He did not look in the least ogreish.

"Well, it has been quite a fortunate mistake for me," he said. "I came
home expecting to find a cold house and a raw dinner, and I find this
instead. I'm very much ob