freshment room, leaving the jackdaw
and the other impediments in charge of a porter, and he told her.

"That's first-rate," she said. "I always hated the idea of seeing you
with a black coat on your back. The Queen's uniform looks much better,
and I want you to be a man. Now you help me into a cab and by dinner
time to-morrow I'll be ready for you at my house at Hampstead, if I
have to work all night to do it. Terms--drat the terms. Well, if you
must have them, Master Godfrey, ten shillings a week will be more than
you will cost me, and I ought to give you five back for your company.
Now I'll make a start, for there will be a lot to do before the place
is fit for a young gentleman. I've never seen it but twice, you know."

So she departed, packed into a four-wheeled cab, with the jackdaw on
her lap, and Godfrey went to Madame Tussaud's, where he studied the
guillotine and the Chamber of Horrors.

On the following morning, having further improved his mind at the
Tower, he took a cab also, and in due course arrived at Hampstead with
his belongings. The place took some finding, for it was on the top of a
hill in an old-fashioned, out of the way part of the suburb, but when
found proved to be delightful. It was a little square house, built of
stone, on which the old builder had lavished all his skill and care, so
that in it everything was perfect, with a garden both in front and
behind. The floors were laid in oak, the little hall was oak-panelled,
there were hot and cold water in every room, and so forth. Moreover, an
odd man was waiting to carry in his things, and in one of the front
sitting-rooms, which was excellently furnished, sat Mrs. Parsons
knitting as though she had been there for years.

"Here you are," she said, "just as I was beginning to get tired of
having nothing to do. Lord! what a fuss we make about things before we
face 'em. After all they ain't nothing but bubbles. Blow them and they
burst. Look here, Master Godfrey," and she waved her hand about the
sitting-room. "Pretty neat, ain't it? Well, I thought it would be all
of a hugger-mugger. But what did I find? That those tenants had been
jewels and left everything like a new pin, to say nothing of
improvements, such as an Eagle range. Moreover, the caretaker is a
policeman's wife and a very nice woman always ready to help for a
trifle, and that man that brought in your boxes is a relative of hers
who does gardening jobs and such-like. Now, come and see