after you are asleep.
And if you were thinking of complaining to him, Julia, I tell you it
won't do any good. He will trust everything to me."

"Do you think I would trouble grandpa?" returned the child.

The housekeeper looked at her in silent perplexity. The blue eyes were
direct and innocent, but there was a heaviness about them that stirred
Mrs. Forbes uncomfortably.

"You must have got too tired playing this afternoon, Julia," she said
decisively, "or you would be hungry for your dinner. You took that hot
bath I told you to?"

"Yes'm."

"Where have you put your wet things? Oh, I see, you've spread them out
very nicely; but those shoes--I shall have to have them cleaned and
polished for you. Now go to sleep as quick as you can and have a
long night's rest. I'm sure the next time you go out you won't be so
careless."

Jewel's eyes followed the speaker as she bustled about and at last took
up the tray.

"Will you kiss me good-night, Mrs. Forbes?" asked the child.

The surprised housekeeper set down her burden, stooped over the bed and
kissed her.

"There now, I see you're sorry," she said, somewhat touched.

Jewel gave her a little smile. "No'm, I've stopped being sorry," she
replied.

"She'd puzzle a Philadelphia lawyer," soliloquized the housekeeper
as she descended the stairs with the tray. "I suppose her mother is
uneducated and uses queer English. As the old ones croak, the young ones
learn. The child uses words nobody ever heard of, and is ignorant of the
commonest ones. I'm glad she's so fond of me if I've got to take care of
her."

CHAPTER XI

DR. BALLARD

Mr. Evringham looked about, half in apprehension, half in anticipation,
as he entered the dining-room the following morning. Jewel had not
arrived, so he settled himself to read his paper. Each time there was
a sound he glanced up, bracing himself for the approach of light feet,
beaming face, and an ardent embrace. His interest in the news gradually
lessened, and his expectancy increased. She did not come. At last he
began to suspect that the unprecedented had happened, and that Mrs.
Forbes herself was late.

He looked at his watch with suddenly rising amazement. It was ten
minutes past the appointed time. He began feeling around with his foot
for the electric bell. It was an unaccustomed movement, for his wishes
were usually anticipated. By the time he found it, he had become a
seriously injured man, and the peal he rang summoned S