the drawing-room when she arrived, and 1 seined the opportunity to tell her the story of Teecie's crutches.

"A bad boy !'" she said. "A bad, malicious boy! She must get new crutches before my

"Of course she must,*' I said very heartily.

The old lady threw back her head, raising her fat chin in a peculiar sort of way, and looking at me direct through her spectacles.

'•Indeed.'*' she said. "Pray, young man,