ne's mind--said,

"Well! we quite deserve it."

The "parcel-post" was discontinued.

We had no doubt as to who had played us this trick. It was the old
gentleman next door. He was a wealthy, benevolent, and rather
eccentric old bachelor. It was his custom to take an early walk for
the good of his health in the garden of the square, and he sometimes
took an evening stroll in the same place for pleasure. Somehow or
other he had made a speaking acquaintance with Miss Blomfield, and we
afterwards discovered that he had made all needful inquiries as to the
names, etc., of Polly and myself from her--she, however, being quite
innocent as to the drift of his questions.

I should certainly not have selected the old gentleman's hat to drop
our best parcel on to, if I had known who he was. I was not likely to
forget his face now.

I soon got to know all our neighbours by sight. On one side of us was
the old gentleman, whose name was Bartram; on the other side lived Sir
Lionel Damer. He was staying with his guardian, an old Colonel
Sinclair; and when my father came up to town he and this Colonel
Sinclair discovered that they were old school-fellows, which Leo and I
looked upon as a good omen for our friendship.

Polly and I and Nurse Bundle became as learned in gossip as any one
else who lives in a town, and is constantly looking out of the window.
We knew the (bird's-eye) appearance of everybody on our side of the
square, their servants, their cats and dogs, their carriages, and even
their tradesmen. If one of the neighbours changed his milkman, or
there came so much as a new muffin man to the square, we were all
agog. One day I saw Polly upon our perch, struggling to get her face
close to the glass, and much hindered by the size of her nose. I felt
sure that there was _something_ down below--at least a new butcher's
boy. So I was not surprised when she called me to "come and look."

"Who is it?" said Polly.

"I don't know," said I.

And then we both stared on, as if by downright hard looking we could
discover the name of the gentleman who had just come down the steps
from Colonel Sinclair's house. He was a short slight man, young, and
with sandy hair. Neither of us had seen him before. Having the good
fortune to see him return to Colonel Sinclair's house, about two hours
later, I hurried with the news to Polly; and we resolved to get to see
Leo as soon as possible, and satisfy our curiosity respecting the
stranger. So