nd together he and
Billy put the finishing touches to the new song.

It was when, with Aunt Hannah, they were having tea before the fire
a little later, that Billy told of her adventure the preceding Friday
afternoon in front of Symphony Hall.

"You knew the girl, of course--I think you said you knew the girl,"
ventured Arkwright.

"Oh, yes. She was Alice Greggory. I met her with Uncle William first,
over a Lowestoft teapot. Maybe you'd like to know _how_ I met her,"
smiled Billy.

"Alice Greggory?" Arkwright's eyes showed a sudden interest. "I used to
know an Alice Greggory, but it isn't the same one, probably. Her mother
was a cripple."

Billy gave a little cry.

"Why, it is--it must be! _My_ Alice Greggory's mother is a cripple. Oh,
do you know them, really?"

"Well, it does look like it," rejoined Arkwright, showing even deeper
interest. "I haven't seen them for four or five years. They used to live
in our town. The mother was a little sweet-faced woman with young eyes
and prematurely white hair."

"That describes my Mrs. Greggory exactly," cried Billy's eager voice.
"And the daughter?"

"Alice? Why--as I said, it's been four years since I've seen her." A
touch of constraint had come into Arkwright's voice which Billy's keen
ear was quick to detect. "She was nineteen then and very pretty."

"About my height, and with light-brown hair and big blue-gray eyes that
look steely cold when she's angry?" questioned Billy.

"I reckon that's about it," acknowledged the man, with a faint smile.

"Then they _are_ the ones," declared the girl, plainly excited. "Isn't
that splendid? Now we can know them, and perhaps do something for
them. I love that dear little mother already, and I think I should the
daughter--if she didn't put out so many prickers that I couldn't get
near her! But tell us about them. How did they come here? Why didn't you
know they were here?"

"Are you good at answering a dozen questions at once?" asked Aunt
Hannah, turning smiling eyes from Billy to the man at her side.

"Well, I can try," he offered. "To begin with, they are Judge Greggory's
widow and daughter. They belong to fine families on both sides, and they
used to be well off--really wealthy, for a small town. But the judge was
better at money-making than he was at money-keeping, and when he came to
die his income stopped, of course, and his estate was found to be in bad
shape through reckless loans and worthless investments. That w