ad made
arrangements to receive her. I have been expecting
to hear from you for some time, and
as I have promised my future husband to fix
the day for our marriage some time early next
month, I thought I could not do better than send
the child with her nurse to you without delay.
She will reach you the day after you receive this
letter. Perhaps you will kindly send me word of
her safe arrival. Yours truly,
ANNA KENT.'

Now, Lovell, what do you think of that? And sure enough, this afternoon,
while we were out, the child and nurse appeared, and are in the house
at this present moment. Don't you think it a hard case for such a
confirmed bachelor as I am?"

"I do indeed," was the hearty reply; "but I think you will find a way
out of it, Ned. Take a wife unto yourself, and she will relieve you of
all responsibility."

There was a general laugh at this, but in the midst of it the door
slowly opened, and the subject of all this discussion appeared on the
threshold, a fragile little figure, with long, golden-brown hair, and a
pair of dark brown eyes that looked calmly and searchingly in front of
her. Clad in white, with her dimpled hands crossed in front of her, she
stood there for a moment in silence, then spoke:--

"Where is my Uncle Edward?"

"Here," replied Sir Edward, as he looked helplessly round, first at his
friends and then at his small niece.

The child stepped up to him with perfect composure, and held out her
little hand, which her uncle took, undergoing all the while a severe
scrutiny from the pair of dark eyes fixed upon him. There was dead
silence in the room. Sir Edward's companions were delighting in the
scene, and his great discomfiture only heightened their enjoyment.

"Well," he said at length, rather feebly, "I think you know the look of
me now, don't you? Where is your nurse? Ought you not to be in your bed?
This is not the place for little girls, you know."

"I was thinking you would kiss me," and the child's lips began to
quiver, while a pink flush rose to her cheeks, and she glanced wistfully
round, in the hope of seeing some sympathetic face near her.

But Sir Edward could not bring himself to do this. Laying his hand on
the curly head raised to his, he patted it as he might his dog, and
said,--

"There, there! Now you have introduced yourself to me, you can run away.
What is your name? Millicent, isn't it?"

"Milly is my name. And ar