duce you to my young friends, Miss Blossom,' said Merton. 'May I
beg you to help Miss Apsley to arrange her tucker?'

Miss Blossom, almost unbecomingly brilliant in her complexion, did as she
was asked. Batsy had cold chicken, new potatoes, green peas, and two
helpings of apricot tart. Tommy devoted himself to cutlets. A very mild
shandygaff was compounded for him in an old Oriel pewter. Both children
made love to Miss Blossom with their eyes. It was not at all what Merton
felt inclined to do; the lady had entangled him in a labyrinth of
puzzledom.

'None-so-pretty,' exclaimed Tommy, 'I am glad you told us to come here.
Your friends are nice.'

Merton bowed to Tommy, 'I am glad too,' he said. 'Miss Blossom knew that
we were kindred souls, same kind of chaps, I mean, you and me, you know,
Tommy!'

Miss Blossom became more and more like the fabled peony, the crimson
variety. Luckily the office boy ushered in Dr. Maitland, who, exchanging
glances of surprise with Merton, over the children's heads, began to make
himself agreeable. He had nearly as many tricks as Miss Maskelyne. He
was doing the short-sighted man eating celery, and unable to find the
salt because he is unable to find his eyeglass.

Merton, seeing his clients absorbed in mirth, murmured something vague
about 'business,' and spirited Miss Blossom away to the inner chamber.

'Sit down, pray, Miss Blossom. There is no time to waste. What do you
know about these children? Why did you send them here?'

The girl, who was pale enough now, said, 'I never thought they would
come.'

'They are here, however. What do you know about them?'

'I went to stay, lately, at the Home Farm on their grandmother's place.
We became great friends. I found out that they were motherless, and that
they were being cruelly ill-treated by their governess.'

'Miss Limmer?'

'Yes. But they both said they loved her dearly. They always said that
when asked. I gathered from their grandmother, old Mrs. Apsley, that
their father would listen to nothing against the governess. The old lady
cried in a helpless way, and said he was capable of marrying the woman,
out of obstinacy, if anybody interfered. I had your advertisement, and I
thought you might disentangle him. It was a kind of joke. I only told
them that you were a kind gentleman. I never dreamed of their really
coming.'

'Well, you must take them back again presently, there is the address. You
must see