"Aunt Ollie—Aunt Ollie!" she cried, throwing her arms round her aunt. "Aren't you very glad to see me? I've grown yards, and mummy's shoes almost fit me if I stuff paper into the toes! And I walked all round the ship with the captain, and do you know I have a darling dove in a cage? And Cousin Dugald was saying a wicked word when he met us on the stairs, so I put my hand in his pocket quick like a thief, and picked his cigarette-case; and then he and me had a scrimmage, but he says there's a new bear at the Zoo wants to see me, and we think we'll go to-morrow." She paused for breath. Her mother turned her head. "Go and fetch me my handbag, Pippa. I left it in the cab, and Anita has got it." The child instantly obeyed. "You can put us up, Orris?" "Of course. I have a big spare room." "You're very comfortable in this flat. I suppose you realize that we're penniless. Pippa and I have both been in the doctor's hands. He advised a good healthy out-of-door life for us both. So ridiculous! But I couldn't stay on in Cannes." "Pippa looks thin and white." "She's never still; she tires me to death. I never ought to have been a mother. I haven't the health for it. Children are a never-ending care and responsibility. You'll have to take her off my hands for a bit. Have you still got your job at the club?" "Yes, I'm still manageress." "I should like a similar job if I could get it. You have a very good time and a good salary." "It's good enough for one," said Orris, laughing, and her laugh was clear and ringing, "but it won't be very good for three. I'll do the best I can for you, Vennie dear. We must talk over this idea of a country life." "Don't make me an item in it. But Pippa has a cough which ought to be cured. If I had the money, I would send her down to a country farmhouse with Anita, my maid. I suppose you can put her up too? I forgot to say I was bringing her over with us. She's half Italian, half French, and adores Pippa, and knows how to manage her." "I think she can share my one maid's room," said Orris. Pippa was back. "I wiss I was a organ-man, mummy! There's one with a monkey in the street. May I go and be friends with him?" "No," said her mother sharply; "you may not. Oh, dear! How tired I am! Orris, I'll go straight to bed. Anita will wait on me—I only want a cup of tea." Orris took her to her spare room without a word. She saw that she had every comfort there, and then returned to her little niece, whom she found in front of the fire with two dolls and a Teddy bear. "It's my family, Aunt Ollie—Beauty and the Beast and their little baby. I'm really fondest of the Beast; he's so soft and squeezy." Then a fit of coughing stopped further talking. And as Orris watched the child's flushed, strained face and beating heart, sudden anxiety seized her. "Pippa, my darling, you're nothing but a bag of bones with a little skin over them!"