round Jimmie's neck!"

"What in the world--"

"_Promise_ you won't ever tell him what I'm saying. Oh, he'd feel
dreadfully. You see it's just that. He feels sorry 'cause I'm lame and
he won't believe that I don't mind a bit--why, I can run and do
everything--and he won't ever go anywhere without me. And an artist
shouldn't have to be tied down; I heard Mr. Tony say so, once, when
Jimmie was very blue. He didn't know I heard. Now Mr. Tony's going off
for a long cruise in the South Seas on a sailing boat and he wants
Jimmie to go with him. He's going to write stories and he says if Jimmie
sees it all he will make his fortune painting pictures. And he can
illustrate the stories, too. And Jimmie won't go because he won't leave
me. Don't you see what I'd do if I had some money? I'd run away
somewhere and tell Jimmie that he must go with Mr. Tony."

Mr. Allendyce sprang to his feet and paced up and down the room. In all
his life the world had never seemed so full of youth and color and
adventure as it did at that precise moment; his cautious soul fairly
burst with imaginative daring.

"Miss Gordon--that's what I came for. I mean, I came to tell this Gordon
Forsyth that the old lady, Madame Forsyth, wanted him to come to Gray
Manor to live--for a year. He's to be tutored there. And if at the end
of a year he is a--"

"But there isn't any he! Gordon's me."

"I know. I know. But a Forsyth's a Forsyth."

"You mean--_I_ might go to--the castle--"

"Yes, why not? Madame--and I--just took it for granted that you were a
boy, because of your name. But our mistake does not make you any less a
Forsyth or less a possible heir--" The thought was a full-fledged idea
now!

"Who _are_ you?" broke in Robin, excitedly.

"I am Cornelius Allendyce, attorney for the Forsyth family. And I am--if
your father consents--your future guardian."

"Oh, Jimmie'll _never_ consent, never!"

"Why not?" pressed the lawyer. "You say you have no--particular genius
to be killed by--money."

"Would it mean that I'd have to give Jimmie up forever?"

"No, my dear. Indeed no. Madame's plan is that you are to go to Gray
Manor under my guardianship to live for a year. At the end of that time,
if she is satisfied--Why, your father would simply give up any claim--"

"Oh, you don't know Jimmie. He'd never do it, unless--" she paused, her
eyes suddenly wet, "unless--_I_--gave _him_ up. All his life he's made
sacrifices and given up things for me--big ch