Gurth thought it was the sweetest smile he had ever seen in his life. He forgot the child, forgot the flowers, and gazed in rapt admiration at the beautiful face before him. A strange thrill went through him as he looked—a feeling of ecstasy, such as that which comes over some natures when, in world-famed galleries, they stand for the first time in the presence of some matchless work of art. The young lady was too busy with her flowers and her change to notice Gurth’s undisguised admiration. He almost started as she dropped the shillings into his hand, counting them one by one. He took the violets which the child had given him, and held them in his hand. Then he glanced at some which the lady had on her stall in front of her. ‘I think I must buy one of you, after giving you so much trouble,’ he said gently. The lady picked up a bunch of violets and handed them to him with a smile. He dropped the nineteen shillings change into the hands of the beautiful flower-girl, and, raising his hat, walked away. As he did so, he heard the little girl cry out: ‘Oh, Miss Adrian, the gentleman’s left _my_ violets behind him!’ ‘Run after him, quick, and give them to him,’ answered the lady; and in a minute the child had caught Gurth up, and was holding the violets towards him. ‘Thank you, little one,’ he said, smiling; ‘you are very honest at your stall. What is the name, that I may recommend it to my friends?’ ‘The lady is Miss Ruth Adrian,’ answered the child, taking the question seriously, ‘and I am Gertie Heckett.’ The violets dropped from Gurth Eggerton’s hand, and the colour left his face. For a moment his lips moved, as though he would have spoken to the child, then suddenly he turned on his heel, and, forcing his way through the crowd, struggled out of the building and into the air. CHAPTER XXXV. MRS. ADRIAN’S CONVERSION. Ruth had no necessity to find a home for Gertie, after all. Her mother, after having thoroughly aired her objections, and proved beyond a doubt that Gertie was endeavouring to turn her out of house and home, and that Ruth was endeavouring to bring her grey hairs with sorrow to the grave, had suddenly veered round, taken the child under her immediate protection, and insisted upon Ruth keeping her as long as ever she liked. Ruth, who had grown sincerely attached to Gertie, was only too delighted to take advantage of this change of attitude, and from that moment Josh Heckett’s grand-daughter was treated as one of the family. Mrs. Adrian’s conversion had been brought about in a very singular manner. Ruth’s great friend in all her troubles was her father. He would come from Patagonia or the South Sea Islands in a second if she asked him a question, and he had always the heartiest sympathy with all her little schemes.