ok is busiest of all, and savoury smells rise from
the kitchen, telling of good things to be eaten on the morrow.

There were some preparations on foot at Minchin House, though there was
not the same bustle and noise as is to be found in a large family. And
quite early in the morning came the great hamper which Mrs Fellowes had
spoken of in her letter to Bertie. Then just as the early dinner had
come to an end, and Miss Ware was telling the two boys that she would
take them round the town to look at the shops, there was a tremendous
peal at the bell of the front door, and a voice was heard asking for
Master Egerton. In a trice Shivers had sprung to his feet, his face
quite white, his hands trembling, and the next moment the door was
thrown open, and a tall, handsome lady came in, to whom he flew with a
sobbing cry of: "Aunt Laura! Aunt Laura!"

Aunt Laura explained in less time than it takes me to write this, that
her husband, Colonel Desmond, had had left to him a large fortune, and
that they had come as soon as possible to England, having, in fact, only
arrived in London the previous day.

"I was so afraid, Tom darling," she said, in ending, "that we should not
get here till Christmas Day was over, and I was so afraid you might be
disappointed, that I would not let Mother tell you that we were on our
way home. I have brought a letter from Mother to Miss Ware--and you
must get your things packed up at once and come back with me by the
six-o'clock train to town. Then Uncle Jack and I will take you
everywhere, and give you a splendid time, you dear little chap, here all
by yourself."

For a minute or two Shivers' face was radiant; then he caught sight of
Bertie's down-drooped mouth, and turned to his Aunt.

"Dear Aunt Laura," he said, holding her hand very fast with his own,
"I'm awfully sorry, but I can't go."

"Can't go? and why not?"

"Because I can't go and leave Fellowes here all alone," he said stoutly,
though he could scarcely keep a suspicious quaver out of his voice.
"When I was going to be alone, Fellowes wrote and asked his Mother to
let me go home with him, and she couldn't, because his sister has got
scarlet fever, and they daren't have either of us; and he's got to stay
here--and he's never been away at Christmas before--and--and--I can't go
away and leave him by himself, Aunt Laura--and--"

For the space of a moment or so, Mrs Desmond stared at the boy as if
she could not believe her ears; t