had all disappeared. There was nothing near
him but the chair—overturned—and an empty
wine-bottle.

V.

"Thank Heaven!" were the first spoken
words of Mr. Blorage. His first act was to look
for his handkerchief, which he hoped he had not
thrown to either of the ladies. It was safe in
his pocket. "It must have been a dream," he
next remarked, eyeing the chair dubiously.
"Yes, of course a dream," as he gathered
courage from its motionless state. "But a very
bad dream," as he felt encouraged to touch it,
raise it, and examine it. As harmless a chair as
ever upholsterer stuffed, or gentleman bought!
Gently he restored it to its proper place.

A knock at the door. Immediately followed by
the appearance of the model Penge. It seemed
an agreeable and satisfactory circumstance to
the respectful Penge that his master was on his
legs and awake.

"Shall I remove the things, sir? It's close
upon nine."

"Do so, Penge. And I think I will have a
cup of coffee—rather strong, Penge."

"Yes, sir."

What a relief it was, not to see Penge sit down
in the chair!

"It's a delicious cup of coffee, Penge," said
Mr. Blorage, when it was brought, "and it so
perfectly agrees with me that I think I'll take a run
over to Dr. Evans's and play a game of chess
with him."

The sharp night air smote him with a sudden
giddiness, and every twinkling star appeared to
be closely embracing a twin star that twinkled
with still greater vigour; but he soon got over
these delusions, and before he reached Dr.
Evans's door was quite himself. On the way,
however, he took himself seriously to task:

"How good of the night to be so fresh and
fine, how kind of the pure stars to beam down on
me so brightly, when I am a man full of evil and
weak thoughts. I harboured a design against
my fellow-creatures of the basest sort; and, to
add to my crime, it was directed against one
whom I meant for a wife! True, I know
nothing of Miss Fanny or Miss Florence, but the
beauty of those two cousins, and a general sort
of amiability that seems to belong to all girls.
I'll make it my business to see more of both, and
I'll try to be guided to a right choice at last."

Mr. Blorage was warmly welcomed by Dr.
Evans, who opened the door to him.

"Now this is friendly. I have had a very
anxious case, which has caused me much worry
these three days. It is happily past the crisis
now, and I was just saying to my wife, how I
should enjoy your stepping in."

"I am heartily glad I came."

"Of course you are. You are always kind
and seasonable. When were you ever otherwise!"

The good Dick followed the doctor (who was
a voluble and hearty doctor) up the stairs into the
presence of Mrs. Doctor. But Dick was unable
to acknowledge Mrs. Doctor's cordial greeting by
so much as a single word; for there, before his
eyes, seated on a little chair by Mrs. Evans's
side, was Miss Gatty Bland: her innocent little
face peeping out of a handkerchief tied over her
head and under her chin.

"You know dear little Gatty, of course?"
remarked the Doctor. "She is waiting for her
mother's medicine.—I hope you have given Gatty
a cup of tea, my dear?"

Mrs. Doctor's face expressed a profound
contempt for Mr. Doctor's unnecessary reminder.

Meantime, Dick sat down. He awaited with
the calm composure of a victim of Fate, for
Miss Bland to offer him the use of her mother's
beautiful china bowl.

She did nothing of the sort. In the ensuing
half-hour she made no allusion whatever either to
china or to bowls, though the conversation
turned upon no other subject than his approaching
house-warming.

Dick was half sorry. He felt as if it would
be so agreeable to thank such a charming little
girl. If her mother had lent him her china bowl
(he felt sure she possessed a china bowl), he
must have called to thank her; and he felt a
desire to become intimate with the family. He
might, perhaps, be of service to them; was there
anything—or nothing—in that nomination he
so nearly heard about? He invited Gatty to the
house-warming, and anticipated her request for
Jenny and Albert; he was not at all surprised
to find that she had a sister Jenny and a brother
Albert. But it did surprise him to see how
pretty she became when joy flushed her cheeks
and brightened her eyes, while several little
dimples in the nicest corners of her face
discovered themselves, as she smiled her thanks.

"The very thing!" said Mrs. Evans; "a
little gaiety does more good than all my doctor's
physic. Mr. Blorage, my dear, very thoughtful.
You'll expect all four, I dare say—three girls
and a boy."

"Only four! I expect eight at least."

"But, Mrs. Evans," whispered Gatty, "one
of us must stay with mamma; that will be I,
you know."

"My dear, I will see to that. I will step
down in the morning, Gatty, and settle it all
with mamma."

"And tell mamma from me," said the doctor,
"that I shall spend a couple of hours with her
to-morrow evening. I want to study her case,
and I shall like a little rest between your dances,
Blorage."

"That is," said Gatty, smiling delightedly,
"that you two are most kindly going to
represent me for that time."

"Just so, my dear. What! Are you off,
Gatty?—Stay. We'll send our man, Mike, with
you; the railway has brought a lot of ill-looking
people about."

"Let me take you home, Miss Bland," said
Dick.

"Oh! Thank you very much, Mr. Blorage. I
own some of the people frighten me, though I
think they mean no harm."

"We will have a game of chess when you
come back, Blorage," says the doctor.