mollified tone, "she couldn't help 'miring her; but she's a very unkind woman, for when I told her I would give her some of my meat and pudding every day, she d'clared she wouldn't eat it if I did! and when I offered her this "-holding up the contents of the little blue purse-" she 'fused to take it! Wasn't it unkind of her,

ganpa ?"

66

Is that the half-sovereign I gave you yesterday?" asked the gentleman, in surprise.

Lily nodded her head assentingly.

Why, then, do you want to get rid of it?" he inquired, in a tone of considerable interest; "don't you know that if Peggy were to take it you would be unable to buy your doll a new hat?"

"Yes; Lily knows that," replied the disappointed child; "but Polly has plenty more hats, and Lily would much rather give the money to Peggy."

"Did the woman absolutely refuse to receive it?" demanded Mr. Faversham, turning sharply round on Mary, and eyeing her with a keen, penetrating glance.

"Indeed, she did, sir," was the unhesitating reply.

"And what put it into Miss Lily's head to offer it to her?" was Mr. Faversham's next abrupt inquiry.

Mary looked a little embarrassed; but Lily took the answer upon herself.

"Cause I asked her if she had p'enty of b'ead and butter and meat and pudding every day, like Lily has, you know; and she said poor people didn't get much meat and pudding; and I'm sure they ought to get it," continued the innocent child, making a comical little grimace, "'cause it's far nicer than d'y b'ead; and then Lily begged her to take the money—and she wouldn't."

"That was certainly behaving better than I should have expected," mused the Squire, as he listened to this simple account; aloud he said, "Is it still your wish that she should have it?"

"'Course it is," answered the child, in a voice of decision.

"Come with me, then," he replied, smilingly, taking up his hat, "and we will see what can be done about it."

"Lily told her that ganpa would make her have it," remarked his companion, as she danced contentedly along at his side.

"Did you?" rejoined Mr. Faversham, absently; and then he plunged into a train of thought, from which he only emerged when he found himself standing outside the lodge, with Lily trying to attract old Peggy's attention by making as vigorous an onset upon the crazy door as was consistent with her small strength.

Great was the poor woman's consternation on beholding Mr. Faversham; but Lily gave her no time to speak, for, rushing over to her, she seized her by the gown, and, holding up the half-sovereign, cried breathlessly "Here it is; now you must take it, for ganpa says so.

"But, my

dear" commenced Peggy,

in a tone of remonstrance.

"Ganpa says it," persisted Lily, without allowing her to finish her sentence; and, having thus repeated this (to her) unanswerable argument, she surveyed the old woman with an air of conscious triumph.

Poor Peggy sank into a seat, utterly over

whelmed by so much energy on the part of her young visitor; and Mr. Faversham, seeing, and perhaps pitying, her bewilderment, came forward, and said, in a voice of far more kindness than he had been accustomed to use when addressing her, "I think you had better do as the child wishes-it would be a pity to disappoint her, you know."

"Bless you, my lamb!" cried the old woman, fairly overcome, as Lily pressed the coin into her hand; "I can't tell how to thank you."

"Now make haste, and get some meat and pudding," suggested the child in an eager whisper; " and then Lily won't call you unkind and naughty no more, " she added, in a tone of compunction, which Peggy considered most unnecessary.

While they were talking on this subject, Mr. Faversham, whose eyes had been roving restlessly around the room, walked quietly across the floor, and opened a door at the farthest end, for the purpose of examining into the state of affairs in an inner and somewhat larger apartment.

Peggy had scarcely exaggerated when she

affirmed that the house was "full of damp; " for indeed it could not well be otherwise, considering how many years had elapsed since it had been repaired; and even Mr. Faversham, who usually viewed these matters with such supreme indifference, was unable to repress a slight shiver as he contemplated the interior of this gloomy-looking room, which had once been so full of brightness and comfort.

It was quite empty, except for a few shallow tubs, which were placed at various distances from each other (apparently for the express purpose of receiving any water which might fall from the leaky roof), as Peggy had long before been obliged to remove and probably dispose of the greater part of her furniture; and the bare, damp walls, broken cornice, windows that contained only two or three cracked panes of glass, flooring which afforded a very precarious support, and weather-stained ceiling, from whence could be discerned more than one patch of blue sky,-all combined to form a picture of such utter dreariness that Mr. Faversham turned at last shudderingly