meditating as you walked the street, but the
calm expression of your face emboldened me
to send my child to you. And when I saw you
bend your head to speak tenderly to her, I prayed
to GOD to forgive me for having ever brought
a sorrow on it. I now pray to you to forgive
me, and to forgive my husband. I was
very young, he was young too, and in the
ignorant hardihood of such a time of life we
don't know what we do to those who have
undergone more discipline. You generous man!
You good man! So to raise me up and make
nothing of my crime against you!"—- for he would
not see her on her knees, and soothed her as a
kind father might have soothed an erring
daughter—- "thank you, bless you, thank you!"

When he next spoke, it was after having
drawn aside the window-curtain and looked out
a while. Then, he only said:

"Is Polly asleep?"

"Yes. As I came in, I met her going away
upstairs, and put her to bed myself."

"Leave her with me for to-morrow, Beatrice,
and write me your address on this leaf of my
pocket-book. In the evening I will bring her
home to you—- and to her father."

                *             *                *                 *

"Hallo!" cried Polly, putting her saucy sunny
face in at the door next morning when breakfast
was ready: " I thought I was fetched last
night?"

"So you were, Polly, but I asked leave to
keep you here for the day, and to take you
home in the evening."

"Upon my word!" said Polly. " You are
very cool, ain't you?"

However, Polly seemed to think it a good
idea, and added, " I suppose I must give you a
kiss though you are cool." The kiss given and
taken, they sat down to breakfast in a highly
conversational tone.

"Of course, you are going to amuse me?"
said Polly.

"Oh, of course," said Barbox Brothers.

In the pleasurable height of her anticipations,
Polly found it indispensable to put down her
piece of toast, cross one of her little fat knees
over the other, and bring her little fat right
hand down into her left hand with a business-
like slap. After this gathering of herself together,
Polly, by that time, a mere heap of dimples
asked in a wheedling manner: " What are
we going to do, you dear old thing?"

"Why, I was thinking," said Barbox
Brothers, "—- but are you fond of horses,
Polly?"

"Ponies, I am," said Polly, " especially when
their tails are long. But horses—- n—-  no—- too
big, you know."

"Well," pursued Barbox Brothers, in a spirit
of grave mysterious confidence adapted to the
importance of the consultation, "I did see
yesterday,Polly, on the walls, pictures of two long-
tailcd ponies, speckled all over—-"

"No, no, NO!" cried Polly, in an ecstatic
desire to linger on the charming details. " Not
speckled all over!"

"Speckled all over. Which ponies jump
through hoops—- "

"No, no, NO!" cried Polly, as before. "They
never jump through hoops!"

"Yes, they do. O I assure you they do.
And eat pie in pinafores—- "

"Tonics ealing pie in pinafores!" said Polly.
"What a story-teller you are, ain't you?"

"Upon my honour—-. And fire off guns."

(Polly hardly seemed to see the force of the
ponies resorting to fire-arms.)

"And I was thinking," pursued the
exemplary Barbox, "that if you and I were to go
to the Circus where these ponies are, it would
do our constitutions good."

"Does that mean, amuse us?" inquired Polly.
"What long words you do use, don't you?"

Apologetic for having wandered out of his
depth, he replied: " That means amuse us.
That is exactly what it means. There are many
other wonders besides the ponies, and we, shall
see them all. Ladies and gentlemen. in spangled
dresses, and elephants and lions and tigers."

Polly became observant of the teapot, with
a curled-up nose indicating some uneasiness of
mind. "They never get out, of course," she
remarked as a mere truism.

"The elephants and lions and tigers? O
dear no!"

"O dear no!" said Polly. " And of course
nobody's afraid of the ponies shooting
anybody."

"Not the least in the world."

"No, no, not the least in the world," said
Polly.

"I was also thinking," proceeded Barbox,
"that if we were to look in at the toy-shop, to
choose a doll—- "

"Not dressed!" cried Polly, with a clap of
her hands. "No, no, NO, not dressed!"

"Full dressed. Together with a house, and
all things necessary for housekeeping—— "

Polly gave a little scream, and seemed in
danger of falling into a swoon of bliss.
"What a darling you are!" she languidly
exclaimed, leaning back in her chair. " Come
and be hugged, or I must come and hug
yon."

This resplendent programme was carried into
execution with the utmost rigour of the law. It
being essential to make the purchase of the
doll its first feature—- or that lady would have
lost the ponies—- the toy-shop expedition took
precedence. Polly in the magic warehouse, with
a doll as large as herself under each arm, and a
neat assortment of some twenty more on view
upon the counter, did indeed present a spectacle
of indecision not quite compatible with
unalloyed happiness, but the light cloud passed.
The lovely specimen oftenest chosen, ofteuest
rejected, and finally abided by, was of Circassian
descent, possessing as much boldness of beauty
as was reconcilable with extreme feebleness of
mouth, and combining a sky-blue silk pelisse
with rose-coloured satin trousers, and a black
velvet hat: which this fair stranger to our
northern shores would seem to have founded