"What a brute!" muttered Hepsey; but Marion Only laughed, adding, "I'm not a bit afraid of him." As they were leaving the court he came up out of a cellar and joined them. "Delightful vicinity; very healthy, too!" pointing to a stagnant pool of filth in which a pig was wallowing. He shrugged his shoulders, chuckling with mirth. "I see you enjoy it as much as we do, Mr. Lambert. It's so good for the spirits to see people enjoying themselves." A group of boys were playing marbles on the uneven pavement, and scarcely moved for them to pass. "Get out of the path," he shouted, striking his cane right and left. "Don't you see you're in the way of your betters?" "Oh, Mr. Lambert!" exclaimed Marion, "you have hurt that boy," as one of the lads put his hand to his head, sending after them a terrible oath. "Pshaw! they're not tender—good for them—business to get out of the way." But when they were about to turn out of the street and parted company, they saw him hurrying back to the group, shaking his cane and shouting, "Wait! Wait!" Curious to know what he would do, Marion went back to the head of the street, and saw the eccentric old man throw a handful of coins to the boys, as he could not get them to wait for another beating. "What a disappointed life he must have had," she said to Hepsey, after walking in silence for some minutes. "I wonder whether he has any heart left." "Not likely, miss," was the brief reply. A few weeks later Marion was having quite a jubilee in her parlors. She had invited all the older classes in the mission school, and was entertaining them with a play called "Shadows." At the end of the back parlor was a wide door across which a white curtain was stretched, and the children sitting in the darkened rooms saw behind the curtain scenes which made them open both eyes and mouth in astonishment. A man was sitting in a chair in a doctor's office and the physician was examining him. First the outside of his head, then the inside, taking out with pincers, one tooth after another and putting them in again, taking from the patient's throat tumblers, plates, long-handled kitchen spoons, a hammer, and at last an umbrella, which had to be pulled and jerked, till the patient shrieked. They were in the midst of all this when Marion heard a familiar voice muttering,— "Fool's play,—miserable waste—time,—money,—better send them to the penitentiary at once." Since their late interview Marion had thought much of the strange, lonely old man, and had nearly made up her mind that he only tried to disguise his real feelings by his outlandish manner. She gave him her hand cordially, as she said,— "I did not invite you to my party, Mr. Lambert, but I am very glad you came. I was just needing some help. My doctor in there needs a new patient: come, I will introduce you to him." "Patient, eh! Well, I need a doctor badly enough. What do you want me to do?" "Only to have your head cut off, sir."