The more his mother wept, the louder Robbie roared. They clung together sobbing and crying until the sound penetrated to the lower regions, and the maid-of-all-work crept up the uncarpeted stair and listened, agape with horror. Then suddenly Mrs Moore shook Robbie off, bounded out of the room, and called to the servant to run down the road to summon Mrs Ross to come at once--at once, and to bring pencil and paper, so that she might write down the words of a letter to be dictated from an upper window. It was easy to see from whom Mildred had inherited her impetuosity. Poor Mrs Ross was bewildered by the torrent of words which were hurled at her head the moment she arrived. She was obliged to write four separate letters before Mrs Moore was satisfied that she had said the right thing in the right way. The letter seemed fated to cause excitement from beginning to end. When it arrived at The Deanery, Lady Sarah put up her eye-glasses to read it, only to drop them a moment later with a cry of astonishment. She gasped, and panted, and gasped, and panted again, while the other occupants of the room stared aghast, not knowing what to make of such behaviour. "M-M-Mildred!" she cried, and when the girl advanced to her side, she clasped her in a passionate embrace. "Mildred, Mildred, do you know who you are? My own little niece--my grand-niece,--Mary's child! I knew there was something familiar about you--I felt it! I have said so over and over again, and now Mary writes,--poor Mary! You always spoke of me as `Lady Sarah', and she never dreamt that it was I. She has been living in the depths of the country and has never heard of my husband's honours. She was unmarried when I saw her last--" "Oh! Oh! Oh!" cried Mildred shrilly, clasping her hands together in excitement, "It was you! You were the rich aunt! Oh, how dreadfully romantic! Then you are my aunt, too. `Aunt Sarah!' Goodness me, who would ever have dreamt of such a thing! And Mother says,--what does Mother say?" "She seems afraid, poor thing, that I shall try to take you from her, as I wished to separate her from her parents long ago; but be satisfied, Mildred, I have learned a lesson since those days. I shall not try to take you from your mother!"