CHAPTER XX.

ALL FORGOTTEN.

OOR little chap,' said the policeman, raising Harry in his arms.

The bell was answered by

John, who looked very much surprised at seeing Harry the beggar boy lying on the sofa.

'Tell your mistress I would be glad if she will come to me here,' said Mr. Marshall; ' and bring some wine directly.'

John said, 'Yes, sir,' and retired.

And in a minute or two the same lady who had been so kind to the little boys. came into the room.

'Are these the little tramps you spoke to me of?' asked Mr. Marshall.

'I think they are,' answered the lady, 'only they were dressed in knickerbockers, I believe, when they were here before.'

'The gipsies stole all our clothes, and made us have these horrid things,' said Hugh.

'I only wish I had seen them then,' said Mr. Marshall. 'Poor Selby might have been spared so much pain and anxiety; but I might not have recognised them even if I had seen them. I could not believe they were George Selby's children even after they had told their names; and even when I have been mixed up with the hue and cry after them.'

'I thought as the lads was something out of the common,' said the kind policeman, scratching his head; 'and I thought of Mr. Selby's boys as had wandered away; although it was no business of mine to be asking their names.'

'You were quite right,' said Mr. Marshall. 'Have a glass of wine, constable.'

All this time Mrs. Marshall was trying

to put some wine down Harry's throat. As he had fainted only from fright, he soon came round again, and his first words were 'I couldn't help it; indeed I couldn't; the gipsies made me do it; and when I said I would not, they beat me.'

'I think you had better have them both put to bed,' said Mr. Marshall in a low voice, and, pray, have them washed a little first. I shall ride myself over to Selby's.'

Indeed they wanted washing, as you may suppose; and when they were put into a nice soft bed they both of them fell fast asleep, and forgot all their troubles.

Meanwhile the policeman went back to Farmer Benson, and told him that the two young beggars had turned out young gentlemen; and when the farmer had heard it, he gave himself a tremendous hard slap upon the thigh, which I am sure must have made his leg ache for some minutes, and said

'Blow me tight!'

Now, what blow me tight' means I don't know. If the very fat farmer in whose