ences, and the people who brought us
things to the door in London weren't interesting in the least. If you
like romance, though, I remember a tale in a little old, old book that
belonged to my great grandmother. It was supposed to be true, and I dare
say it may have really happened, more than a hundred years ago, just as
'The Babes in the Wood' really happened in Norfolk in Elizabethan times.
It's about a girl named Mary Howard. Her father and mother died when she
was only four years old, and she was left an orphan. She was heiress to
a very great property, and her uncle, Mr. John Howard, was made her
guardian. She also had another uncle, Mr. Dallas, her mother's brother,
but he lived in Calcutta and she had never seen him. Mr. John Howard
wished to get hold of Mary's estates for himself, so he laid a careful
plot. First, he sent all the servants away, including her nurse, Betty
Morris, who was devoted to her. Betty offered to stay on without wages,
but when this was refused she became suspicious, and wrote a letter to
Mr. Dallas warning him to look after his sister's child. But it took
many months in those days for a letter to get to Calcutta, and meantime
Mr. Howard was pursuing a wicked scheme. Soon afterwards Betty heard
that her charge had been stolen by gypsies for the sake of her amber
beads, and could not be found anywhere. What had really happened was
worse even than Betty had feared. Mr. Howard had hired a sailor, who was
in desperate need of money, and bribed him to decoy the child away, take
her to the seaside and there drown her. Robert, the sailor, fulfilled
the first part of his bargain but not the second. He carried little Mary
into a remote part of Wales, but he did not do her any harm. Instead, he
became extremely fond of her and determined to save her from her uncle.
So he bought a passage in a vessel bound for New Zealand and took her to
sea with him, pretending she was his daughter. She was a sweet, gentle
little creature, and soon became a favorite on board.

"Among the crew was a Maori boy named Duaterra, whose father was a great
chief in New Zealand. The Captain, for some offense, ordered this boy to
be flogged, and Duaterra could not forgive the indignity. He planned a
terrible revenge. When they reached New Zealand he persuaded the Captain
and crew to land in his father's territory; then, summoning his savage
friends he ordered a general massacre and killed them all, saving only
Robert and littl