as a mouse!
Now she scoffs at burglars. After what occurred last night she says she
will fear nothing under the sun. Isn't it odd? As for the children,
I'm afraid the event has roused all that is wild and savage in their
natures! They were kicking up a horrible shindy when I passed the
dining-room--the hospital, as Dobson calls it--so I opened the door and
peeped in. There they were, all standing up on their beds, shouting
`Fire! fire! p'leece! p'leece!--engines! escapes! Come qui-i-i-ck!'

"`Silence!' I shouted.

"`Oh, papa!' they screamed, in delight, `what _do_ you think we've had
for supper?'

"`Well, what?'

"`Pudding and jam-pudding and jam--nearly _all_ jam!'

"Then they burst again into a chorus of yells for engines and
fire-escapes, while little Dolly's voice rang high above the rest
`Pudding and dam!--_all_ dam!--p'leece! p'leece! fire and feeves!' as I
shut the door.

"But now, a word in your ear before I leave you for the night. Perhaps
it may not surprise you to be told that I have an extensive practice.
After getting into a new house, which I must do immediately, I shall
want an assistant, who may in course of time, perhaps, become a partner.
D'you understand? Are you open to a proposal?"

"My dear sir," said I, "your kindness is very great, but you know that I
am not yet--"

"Yes, yes, I know all about that. I merely wish to inject an idea into
your brain, and leave it there to fructify. Go to sleep now, my dear
young fellow, and let me wish you agreeable dreams."

With a warm squeeze of the hand, and a pleasant nod, my new friend said
good-night, and left me to my meditations.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

LITTLE SLIDDER RESISTS TEMPTATION SUCCESSFULLY, AND I BECOME ENSLAVED.

"Pompey," said I, one afternoon, while reclining on the sofa in Dobson's
drawing-room, my leg being not yet sufficiently restored to admit of my
going out--"Pompey, I've got news for you."

To my surprise my doggie would not answer to that name at all when I
used it, though he did so when it was used by Miss Blythe.

"Dumps!" I said, in a somewhat injured tone.

Ears and tail at once replied.

"Come now, Punch," I said, rather sternly; "I'll call you what I
please--Punch, Dumps, or Pompey--because you are _my_ dog still, at
least as long as your mistress and I live under the same roof; so, sir,
if you take the Dumps when I call you Pompey, I'll punch your head for
you."

Evidently the dog thought this a v