sweet, gentle countenance was capable
of expressing.

"She'd have been in her grave long ago if she hadn't been served so!"
snapped Mrs. Scrimp. "I'm old enough to be your mother, Mrs. Raymond, and
having had that child in charge for over two years--ever since her own
mother died--I ought to know what's good for her and what isn't. She is
naturally delicate, and to be allowed to overload her stomach would be the
death of her. I can't eat after three o'clock, and neither can she."

"A grown person is no rule for a child," observed Violet, gently smoothing
Gracie's hair; "children need to eat enough to supply material for growth
in addition to the waste of the system. Was it by the advice of a
competent physician you subjected her to such a regimen?"

"I've always had medical advice for her when it was needed," snapped Mrs.
Scrimp.

The captain re-entered the room at that moment. He had made short work
with Mr. Fox, paying his bill, and sending him away with his ears tingling
from a well-merited rebuke for his savage treatment of a defenceless
child.

It was Mrs. Scrimp's turn now; there was no evading the direct, pointed
questions of the captain, and she was compelled to acknowledge that she
had followed out her own theories in the treatment of Gracie, instead of
consulting a physician, even after he had directed her to seek medical
advice and treat the child in careful accordance with it.

"Well, madam," he remarked with much sternness and indignation, "if my
little girl is an invalid for life, I shall always feel that you are
responsible for it."

"I've been a mother to your children, Capt. Raymond," she exclaimed,
growing white with anger, "and this is your gratitude!"

"A mother!" he said, glancing from her to Vi, "I hope there are few such
mothers in the world. My poor starved baby! papa's heart aches to think of
what you have had to endure," he added in moved tones, the big tears
shining in his eyes, as he lifted Gracie on his knees and fondled her
tenderly.

Mrs. Scrimp rose and took an abrupt and indignant leave, her bill having
been already settled.

CHAPTER XIX.

NEW RELATIONSHIPS AND NEW TITLES.

"Are you hungry, Gracie darling?" her father asked with tender solicitude.

"No, papa," she said, "we had our breakfast just a little while before
Aunt Beulah brought us here."

"Well, if ever you suffer from hunger again it shall not be your father's
fault," he returned with emotion.

Tak