ed in the guest, and a cab
was called. Lord Northmoor learnt on the way that the routine in such
cases, which were only too common, was the child was taken by the police
to the bellman's office till night and there taken care of, in case he
should be a little truant of the place, but being unclaimed, he spent a
few days at the Union, and then was taken to the Children's Home at
Fulwood. Inquiries had been made, but the little fellow had been still
under the influence of the drug that had evidently been administered to
him at first, and then was too much bewildered to give a clear account of
himself. He was in confusion between his real home and Westhaven, and
the difference between his appellation and that of his parents was
likewise perplexing, nor could he make himself clear, even as to what he
knew perfectly well, when interrogated by official strangers who alarmed
him.

Lord Northmoor was himself a Poor Law Guardian, and had no vague
superstitions to alarm him as to the usage of children in workhouses; but
he was surprised at the pleasant aspect of the nursery of the Liverpool
Union, a former gentleman's house and grounds, with free air and
beautiful views.

The Matron, on being summoned, said that she had from the first been
sure, in spite of his clothes, that little Mike was a well-born,
tenderly-nurtured child, with good manners and refined habits, and she
had tried in vain to understand what he said of himself, though night and
morning, he had said his prayers for papa and mamma, and at first added
that 'papa might be well,' and he might go home; but where home was there
was no discovering, except that there had been journeys by puff puff; and
Louey, and Aunt Emma, and Nurse, and sea, and North something, and 'nasty
man,' were in an inextricable confusion.

She took them therewith into a large airy room, where the elder children,
whole rows of little beings in red frocks, were busied under the
direction of a lively young nurse, in building up coloured cubes, 'gifts'
in Kindergarten parlance.

There was a few moments of pause, as all the pairs of eyes were raised to
meet the new-comers. With a little sense of disappointment, but more of
anxiety, Frank glanced over them, and encountered a rounded, somewhat
puzzled stare from two brown orbs in a rosy face. Then he ventured to
say 'Mite,' and there followed a kind of laughing yell, a leap over the
structure of cubes, and the warm, solid, rosy boy was in his