n kindly. "I
have not the slightest fear of being turned out Neighbours in flats are
constantly having these little frictions, and the authorities must turn
a deaf ear to complaints if they wish to succeed or to have any peace in
life. I'll go down some night and talk to the old fellow, and see if I
can bring him to reason. We have been so quiet, too, since Hope went
away. What on earth did he find to grumble about?"

"Oh, my dear, the wildest fancies! He didn't like Hope practising the
children's songs this morning, and was blightingly superior about her
taste; but the worst grievance is that there is a tapping at his study
window which gets on his nerves, and that something wakes him up every
morning before it is light. It sounds too ridiculous to be true, but he
actually supposed that we were responsible."

"What utter folly!" began Stephen angrily; but the next moment he
stopped short, and with one accord four pairs of eyes followed his
towards the corner of the room where Barney sat--shaking, red-faced,
apoplectic. "_Barney_!" cried the head of the house in a terrible
voice. "What is the meaning of this? Do you mean to say that this is
_your_ doing? Have you had any hand in this business? Speak up this
moment."

"I should think I had!" cried Barney. "Both hands in it! Didn't I vow
when Hope went away that I would find some plan of keeping the old
fellow occupied? I flatter myself that I hit on something original this
time, and secured a fine effect with next to no trouble. The tapping
was made by a little lead weight hung on the end of a string fastened
outside the girls' window. It swung about in the air, just at the top
of his panes, and when there was a breeze, tapped away like a machine.
I fastened it up one day, and left it to do its work. It's there still,
if you choose to look. The waking-up business was more difficult. I
found out, by watching the lights at night, that he slept beneath my
room, and I borrowed an alarum from a fellow in the office. I told him
why I wanted it, and he nearly died with laughing. I set it for
different hours, and lowered it down by a cord so that it lay against
the pane. I left my window open, and when it went off it woke me too,
and I hopped out of bed and pulled it up before he opened his window.
It was too dark for him to see anything, but I could hear him muttering
to himself in a tearing rage. It came off splendidly, but I'm not sorry
to give up th