.

Johnnie replied that it was a half-holiday, and so he thought he would
come and call.

Emily said she was glad to see him; indeed, she felt refreshed by the
sight of anything that belonged to John.

"I thought I should like to--to--in short, to come and call," repeated
Johnnie, and he looked rather earnestly at his gloves, perhaps by way of
occupation. They were such as a Harrow boy seldom wears, excepting on
"speech day"--pale lilac. As a rule Johnnie scorned gloves. Emily
observed that he was dressed with perfect propriety--like a gentleman,
in fact; his hair brushed, his tie neat, his whole outer boy clean, and
got up regardless of trouble and expense.

"Well, you could not have come at a better time, dear boy," said Emily,
wondering what vagary he was indulging now, "for I have just got a
present of a case of shells and birds from Ceylon, and you shall help me
to unpack and arrange them, if you like."

"I should like to do anything you please," said Johnnie with alacrity.
"That's what I meant, that's what I came to say." Thereupon he smoothed
the nap on his "chimneypot" hat, and blushed furiously.

The case was set upon the floor, on a piece of matting; it had already
been opened, and was filling the room with a smell of sandal-wood and
camphor.

Emily had risen, and when she paused, arrested by surprise at the
oddness of this speech, he added, taking to his lisp again, as if from
sheer embarrassment, "Thome fellows are a great deal worse than they
theem. No, I didn't mean that; I mean thome fellows are a great deal
better than they theem."

"Now, Johnnie," said Emily, laughing, and remembering a late visit of
apology, "if any piece of mischief has got the better of you, and your
father has sent you to say you are sorry for it, I'll forgive you
beforehand! What is it? Have you been rooting up my fences, or flooding
my paddock?"

"It's a great deal worth than that," answered Johnnie, who by this time
was kneeling beside the case, hauling out the birds and shells with more
vigour than dexterity.

"Nothing to do with gunpowder, I hope," said Emily with her usual
_insouciance_.

"There are the girls; I hear them coming in the carriage," exclaimed
Johnnie by way of answer, while Emily was placing the shells on a table.
"No, father didn't send me; he doesn't know."

"What is it, then?" she repeated, feeling more at liberty to investigate
the matter, now she had been expressly told that John had nothing