ust apologize," said Worth, when Millicent had
finished. "Can you pardon me, Mrs. Kirby?"

Mrs. Kirby had listened in amazed silence, but now she laughed.
"Certainly," she said kindly. "I don't suppose it was altogether right
for you girls to play such a trick on anybody. But I can make
allowances for schoolgirl pranks. I was a school girl once myself, and
far from a model one. You have atoned for your mistake by coming so
frankly and confessing, and now we'll forget all about it. I think you
have learned your lesson. Both of you must just sit down and spend the
evening with us. Dear me, but you _are_ bewilderingly alike!"

"I've something I want to say," interposed Mr. Kirby suddenly. "You
say your name is Worth Gordon," he added, turning to Worth. "May I ask
what your mother's name was?"

"Worth Mowbray," answered Worth wonderingly.

"I was sure of it," said Mr. Kirby triumphantly, "when I heard Miss
Moore mention your name. Your mother was my half-sister, and you are
my niece."

Everybody exclaimed and for a few moments they all talked and
questioned together. Then Mr. Kirby explained fully. "I was born on a
farm up-country. My mother was a widow when she married my father, and
she had one daughter, Worth Mowbray, five years older than myself.
When I was three years old, my mother died. Worth went to live with
our mother's only living relative, an aunt. My father and I removed to
another section of the country. He, too, died soon after, and I was
brought up with an uncle's family. My sister came to see me once when
she was a girl of seventeen and, as I remember her, very like you are
now. I never saw her again and eventually lost trace of her. Many
years later I endeavoured to find out her whereabouts. Our aunt was
dead, and the people in the village where she had lived informed me
that my sister was also dead. She had married a man named Gordon and
had gone away, both she and her husband had died, and I was informed
that they left no children, so I made no further inquiries. There is
no doubt that you are her daughter. Well, well, this is a pleasant
surprise, to find a little niece in this fashion!"

It was a pleasant surprise to Worth, too, who had thought herself all
alone in the world and had felt her loneliness keenly. They had a
wonderful evening, talking and questioning and explaining. Mr. Kirby
declared that Worth must come and live with them. "We have no
daughter," he said. "You must come to us in the