Now, the secret of that stitch it is not for me to disclose. It had to be done with a twist here, and a loop there, and a sudden clever bringing round of the thread from the left to the right at a critical moment; then followed a still more clever darting of the needle through a loop, which suddenly appeared just when it was least expected. The feather-stitching involved many movements of the hand and arm, and certainly gave a splendid effect to the fine linen or cambric on which it was worked. Grannie could do it almost with her eyes shut, but Alison, who thought she knew all about it, found when she began to practice that she had not taken the right loop nor the proper twist, and she quite forgot the clever under-movement which brought the thread from left to right, and made that sort of crinkled scroll which all the other workwomen in West London tried to imitate in vain. Grannie was trimming some beautiful underlinen for a titled lady; it was made of the finest cambric, and the feather-stitching was to be a special feature. She stood now, looked down at her pretty grandchild, and saw that she had ruined the work. "Poor dear," muttered the old woman to herself, "she dint got the turn of it, or maybe her head is confused. No wonder, I'm sure; for a cleverer nor neater girl than Alison don't live." "There, my love," she said, speaking aloud, "I've come back. You can put away the work now." "Oh, Grannie!" said the girl, looking up with flushed cheeks, "have I done it right? It looks wrong somehow; it aint a bit rich like what you do." "Dearie me," said the old woman, "as ef that mattered. You pop it back into my drawer now." "But have I done any harm?" "Of course not, lovey. Pop it into the drawer and come and make yourself smart for Jim." "For Jim?" said Alison, looking up with a glow on her cheeks, her eyes shining. "You speak as if you had good news; has anything been discovered?" Grannie had made up her mind to cheer Alison by every means in her power. She sat down now on the nearest chair, untied her bonnet-strings, and looked affectionately at the girl. "I have good news," she said; "yes, all things considered, I have." "Is the money found, grandmother?" "You couldn't expect it to be yet. Of course, _she_ wot took it hid it--wot else can you expect?" "Oh, then nothing matters!" said Alison, her head drooping.