Mollie, Dick, and Jerry suddenly felt very sad as they remembered that they were out of this stroke of luck. Whatever happened, Fortune was not preparing to smile on _them_, at least not in a way that would be of any immediate practical use to them when they got back to London. And a fortune apiece would have come in so very handy just now--just forty years hence, that is. The boys made up their minds to investigate this matter of fortunes in the colonies directly they got home. Hugh tossed up his hat and caught it again: "We'll be jolly rich," he cried. "The Mater will get her trip home, and the Pater needn't worry about bills and subscription lists any more, and I'll get that camera--oh, 'hard times, hard times, come again no more!'" * * * * * Mollie sat up. The clock was still ticking minutes into hours, hours into days, days into weeks and months and years. "Oh dear," she said, "I do wonder--" "Wonder what, my Molliekins?" asked Aunt Mary, preceding Hester with the tea-tray. "I wonder," Mollie repeated, and then began to laugh. "I don't suppose you ever bit like red-hot nippers, did you, Aunt Mary?" CHAPTER VI The Grape-Gatherers or Who was Mr. Smith? Aunt Mary had gone up to London to do some shopping, and when Mollie came downstairs next morning she found Grannie installed in the drawing-room, instead of in the morning-room as usual, with another old lady who had come to spend the day. "Mrs. Pell and I were at school together," she explained, as she introduced her grandchild, "and that was not yesterday," she added, as she settled Mollie in an easy-chair with the lame foot up on a cushioned frame. "My dear husband used this when he had gout," she continued, tucking a warm shawl round Mollie's bandages and large bedroom slipper. "It was made in the village under his own directions, and is most ingeniously constructed. Poor, dear Richard was such an active man; he could not endure to lie on a sofa, and I had the greatest difficulty in keeping him to his bed even when his attacks were severe." Mrs. Pell shook her head as she looked admiringly at the foot-rest. "James was the same, he hated a sofa and would always sit in a chair. Not that he was so active, but he was stout, and stout people are more comfortable sitting up than lying on their backs." Mollie coughed. She had either to cough or to laugh, which, of course, would never have done. "My dear, I trust you have not caught cold," Grannie said anxiously. "Perhaps we should close the window. Your Aunt Mary has a perfect craze for open windows, and I sometimes think there is a draught in this room." "No, no, Grannie," Mollie protested; "I have not got the least bit of cold, and I love the open window; it is so warm to-day. It was only a tickle; I get them sometimes--tell me about when you and Mrs. Pell were at school, please." The two old ladies smiled at each other over their spectacles.