r them twice. Here, take it."

She thrust a warm, dampish letter into his hand as the train moved.

He leaned back in his corner and opened the letter. This is what he
read:--

"Dear Mr. We do not know your name.

Mother is ill and the doctor says to give her the things at the end of
the letter, but she says she can't aford it, and to get mutton for
us and she will have the broth. We do not know anybody here but you,
because Father is away and we do not know the address. Father will pay
you, or if he has lost all his money, or anything, Peter will pay you
when he is a man. We promise it on our honer. I.O.U. for all the things
Mother wants.

"sined Peter.

"Will you give the parsel to the Station Master, because of us not
knowing what train you come down by? Say it is for Peter that was sorry
about the coals and he will know all right.

"Roberta.
"Phyllis.
"Peter."

Then came the list of things the Doctor had ordered.

The old gentleman read it through once, and his eyebrows went up. He
read it twice and smiled a little. When he had read it thrice, he put it
in his pocket and went on reading The Times.

At about six that evening there was a knock at the back door. The three
children rushed to open it, and there stood the friendly Porter, who had
told them so many interesting things about railways. He dumped down a
big hamper on the kitchen flags.

"Old gent," he said; "he asked me to fetch it up straight away."

"Thank you very much," said Peter, and then, as the Porter lingered, he
added:--

"I'm most awfully sorry I haven't got twopence to give you like Father
does, but--"

"You drop it if you please," said the Porter, indignantly. "I wasn't
thinking about no tuppences. I only wanted to say I was sorry your Mamma
wasn't so well, and to ask how she finds herself this evening--and
I've fetched her along a bit of sweetbrier, very sweet to smell it is.
Twopence indeed," said he, and produced a bunch of sweetbrier from his
hat, "just like a conjurer," as Phyllis remarked afterwards.

"Thank you very much," said Peter, "and I beg your pardon about the
twopence."

"No offence," said the Porter, untruly but politely, and went.

Then the children undid the hamper. First there was straw, and then
there were fine shavings, and then came all the things they had asked
for, and plenty of them, and then a good many things they had not asked
for; among others peaches and port wine and two ch