" demanded this remarkable boy.

"Of course you'd fare as well as the other servants," returned the
doctor, rather testily, for his opinion of my little friend was rapidly
falling; I could see that, to my regret.

"Now give me an answer at once," he continued sharply. "Would you like
to come?"

"Not by no manner of means," replied Slidder promptly.

We both looked at him in amazement.

"Why, Slidder, you stupid fellow!" said I, "what possesses you to refuse
so good an offer?"

"Dr Mellon," he replied, turning on me with a flush of unwonted
earnestness, "d'you think I'd be so shabby, so low, so mean, as to go
an' forsake Granny Willis for all the light work an' good salaries and
pleasant society an' blue-uniforms-with-buttons in London? Who'd make
'er gruel? Who'd polish 'er shoes every mornin' till you could see to
shave in 'em, though she don't never put 'em on? Who'd make 'er bed an'
light 'er fires an' fetch 'er odd bits o' coal? An' who'd read the noos
to 'er, an'--"

"Why, Slidder," interrupted Dr McTougall, "you said just now that you
could not read."

"No more I can, sir but I takes in a old newspaper to 'er every
morning', an' sets myself down by the fire with it before me an'
pretends to read. I inwents the noos as I goes along; an you should see
that old lady's face, an' the way 'er eyes opens we'n I'm a tapin' off
the murders an' the 'ighway robberies, an' the burglaries an' the fires
at 'ome, an' the wars an' earthquakes an' other scrimmages abroad. It
do cheer 'er up most wonderful. Of course, I stick in any hodd bits o'
real noos I 'appens to git hold of, but I ain't partickler."

"Apparently not," said the doctor, laughing. "Well, I see it's of no
use tempting you to forsake your present position--indeed, I would not
wish you to leave it. Some day I may find means to have old Mrs Willis
taken better care of, and then--well, we shall see. Meanwhile, I
respect your feelings. Good-bye, and give my regards to granny. Say
I'll be over to see her soon."

"Stay," said I, as the boy turned to leave, "you never told me that one
of your names was Robin."

"'Cause it wasn't w'en I saw you last; I only got it a few days ago."

"Indeed! From whom?"

"From Granny Willis. She gave me the name, an' I likes it, an' mean to
stick by it--Good arternoon, gen'lemen. Ta, ta, Punch."

At the word my doggie bounced from under my hand and began to leap
joyfully round the boy.

"I say," said Rob