"Well," he said, with a smile, "my little scheme seems to have answered. Ralph was fretting a good deal when I brought him here. He had been badly managed at home: none of his aunts understood him. He missed his dear mother,--who died two years ago,--more than words can say. It was not that he fretted about her, for the dear little man was too young to fret, but he just missed the mothering part of life which all little children need and cannot do without. His aunts are good, but old-fashioned people, and they failed just where they most meant to succeed. Now, I see a dear, healthy, happy little boy, with rosy cheeks and bright eyes. I have to thank you, Mrs Burton, for a great deal. "You know that I must leave him very soon to return to South Africa. You know, too, that my work while there, leads me into very possible dangers: in fact, I think I may add into certain dangers; and if it were possible to secure a permanent home for my little man in your house, I should love to do so." "But this is a school for girls," said Mrs Burton, with a smile. "Still, one little boy--my dear friend--one little motherless boy, not six years of age--" "He is a baby," said Mrs Burton, "and we all love him. I will think it over." "Do, my dear friend. I can scarcely tell you what a weight of care will be lifted from my mind if you will allow me to send Ralph back here at the end of the holidays. But in the meantime, what is this talk about several school-mothers, and in especial about two; one naughty--one whom he loves very dearly, and one good--one whom he also seems to adore? Am I really to give two ponies, two side-saddles, two habits, and provide for the keep of two of these little animals for many years? If you can prove to me that such an action on my part is necessary, I will gladly give not two, but twenty, ponies to Ralph's little mothers in this school." "You are so generous, Mr Durrant, that you would really spoil all my little girls if you were allowed to have your own way," said the headmistress. "The fact is, this your proposal with regard to the pony was so tempting and so unlooked for, that it very nearly turned the head and the heart of one child in this school. That child--your little boy will tell you her name, so there is no use in my withholding it--is called Harriet Lane. She behaved as she ought not to have done; and although circumstances occurred--which I will also tell you later on-- that so terrified her and so appealed to her conscience that she is very much improved now; nevertheless it would never do to give her a pony. You must keep to your decision, Mr Durrant, one pony for one girl, and one school-mother for little Ralph." "Very well," said Mr Durrant. "But I suppose I may do something else for the would-be school-mothers."