are somewhat startled at
what you have said. And yet we are not altogether surprised. You will not
think that strange?"

"No, ma'am," said "Cobbler" Horn, in a musing tone, "not altogether
strange, perhaps. But, shall I explain a little further? It was only last
evening that I was led to entertain the thought that Miss Owen might
actually prove to be my lost child. She was telling me, as she had done
several times before, all about how you found her, and of your goodness
to her; and she spoke last night, for the first time, of the one shoe she
was wearing when you found her in the road. Now you may judge how I was
startled, on hearing this, when I tell you that, just after Marian was
lost, we picked up one of her shoes in a field, over which she must have
wandered away. So, this morning, without telling her my reason, I asked
her to let me see the little shoe she had worn so long ago. She at once
fetched it; and here it is, and with it the one we found in the field."

So saying, he drew, from underneath the bed-clothes, the two little shoes;
and placed them side by side upon the counterpane.

Mr. and Mrs. Burton rose and approached the bed.

"Yes," said Mr. Burton, "that is undoubtedly Miss Owen's little shoe."

"And this," said Mrs. Burton, "is unquestionably its fellow," and, taking
up the shoes, she held them towards her husband.

"You are certainly right, my dear."

Then there was silence for a brief space, while these two simple-hearted
people bent, with deep emotion, over the little baby shoes which seemed to
prove so much.

Mrs. Burton was the first to speak.

"Well," she said, calmly, but with a quivering lip, "we are to lose our
child; but the will of the Lord be done."

Mr. Burton's only utterance was a deep sigh.

"Nay," said "Cobbler" Horn, "if it really be as I cannot help hoping it
is, you will, perhaps, not lose so much as you think. But I am sure you
will not begrudge me the joy of finding my child."

"No, indeed, dear sir. On the contrary, we will rejoice with you as well
as we can--and with her."

These were the words of Mrs. Burton, and they received confirmation from
her husband.

At this point, Tommy Dudgeon quietly entered the room, and took his seat,
at a motion from Miss Jemima, behind the chairs on which Mr. and Mrs.
Burton were sitting.

"I have been anxious," resumed "Cobbler" Horn, "thoroughly to assure
myself that there was no mistake. Here is our friend, Dudgeon, now. You