culties, nurse--temporary
difficulties, I hope--but they must be got over somehow. Now, I want
you to take this diamond ring to London with you--pawn it for as much as
you can get, and bring me the money."

"Me pawn it, my dear! I never pawned a thing in my life, and don't know
how to go about it."

"But your brother knows how to do it," suggested Netta. "Now, you won't
refuse me this favour, dear nurse? I know it is an unpleasant business,
but what else can be done? The ring is my own; besides, I hope to be
able to redeem it soon. I know no more about pawning than yourself, but
I do know that a considerable time must elapse before the ring shall be
lost to me. And, you know, our bills _must_ be paid."

Good Mrs Durby did not require much persuasion. She consented to set
off as soon as possible, if she should obtain permission from Mrs
Tipps, who was aware that she had intended to visit her brother about
that time. She received the precious ring, which, for security, was put
into a pill-box; this was introduced into an empty match-box, which
Netta wrapped in a sheet of note-paper and put Mrs Durby's name on it.
For further security Mrs Durby enlarged the parcel by thrusting the
match-box into an old slipper, the heel of which she doubled over the
toe, and then wrapped the whole in several sheets of brown paper until
the parcel assumed somewhat the shape and size of her own head. It was
also fastened with strong cords, but Mrs Durby's powers of making a
parcel were so poor that she left several uncouth corners and ragged
ends of paper sticking out here and there. She wrote on it in pencil
the simple name--Durby.

Meanwhile Joseph and his friend, having finished luncheon, prepared to
set out on their visit to Captain Lee. As they quitted the house, Tipps
ran back to the door and called his sister out of the parlour.

"I say, Netta, what about this fifty pounds that mother was talking of?"
he said. "Do you mean to say that you are really short of that sum, and
in debt?"

"We are, but I see a way out of the difficulty. Don't distress
yourself, Joe; we shall have everything squared up, as you call it in a
few days."

"Are you _quite_ sure of that?" asked Tipps, with a doubting look. "You
know I have got an uncommonly cheap lodging, and a remarkably economical
landlady, who manages so splendidly that I feed on a mere trifle a week.
Seventy-five pounds a year, you know, is more than I know what to do
wi