“No,” said Lally, “don’t like it either. I’d like to go home and see the chick-a-biddies, and Dash, and Nip and Nep, and the ponies, and Ned;” and so the child talked on, her eyes dancing with delight as she spoke of the old home any other little girl might almost have forgotten in the time, while Mr. Stewart looked thoughtfully in her face flushed with excitement, and wondered what value his friend, Mr. Rymner Henry, might set on her chances of life. Mr. Croft delighted greatly in Lally. He encouraged her to be what her mamma called naughty, to chatter away at express speed, to tell him all about Berrie Down, and Aggy, and Laura, “and then there used to be Bessie, you know,” added the child. “Ah! Bessie was good to Lally. She singed to her, and dressed the beau-ful-lest dolls; but Lally will never see Bessie no more—no, never no more;” and the little face began to twitch, and the lips to tremble, and then the brown eyes filled with tears, and finally Lally lifted up her voice and wept. “What is the matter?” inquired Mr. Stewart, who had been engaged in a conversation with Lucy. “What have you done, Douglas, to cause such grief?” “I want to see Bessie,” sobbed the child. “And who is it that is so cruel as to prevent your seeing her?” asked Mr. Stewart. “She is not with us now,” explained Mrs. Dudley. “She was staying at the Hollow for some months before we left Hertfordshire, and Lally grew very fond of her. I cannot imagine why she so continually talks about her now, though; I do not fancy other children have such tenacious memories. Sometimes for weeks together she will never mention Bessie’s name, and then she breaks out as you see. I wish she would not do it. It is very bad for her, fretting so much after any one. Lally, my darling, you must be patient; whenever Bessie can come to see you, she will.” “No,” moaned Lally, “no more. Bessie will come to Lally back again, never no more.” There was something terribly pathetic about the child’s grief even to those who knew nothing whatever of Bessie, or of the circumstances connected with her departure. “Can’t she come and see the child?” asked Mr. Stewart, a little testily. “Surely, if she be at all within reach, such a yearning as this might be gratified.” “Perhaps so,” Heather answered, “if we knew where she was; but I have never heard from her since she last left Berrie Down.” “Did you part in anger then?” Mr. Stewart inquired, true to his theory concerning women’s quarrels.