Jasmine looked round the cathedral, hoping to see her party--they were, of course, nowhere within sight, and the little girl began to walk about by herself, hoping soon to rejoin them. She dropped her umbrella, and a gentleman who had been watching her for some time with interest stooped to pick it up. He was a young man of about six-and-twenty, with a bright and pleasant face. "This is your first visit here?" he said, looking kindly at the child. "Oh, yes," said Jasmine. Then feeling that she had a sympathetic listener, she continued--"It is so beautiful here!" "Yes," answered her companion; then he added, with a second glance at the forlorn little figure, "Are you alone, or have you lost your party?" Jasmine half laughed. "I cannot find my party at the present moment," she said; "but I am by no means alone--my two sisters have come here also to-day for the first time, and a friend is with us, and a lady has very kindly brought us here." "I see," said the stranger. "Well, it is a curious coincidence, but neither am I alone--I have brought a little lad here to show him the cathedral--he has gone into the Whispering Gallery, and I am waiting for him. Perhaps your friends have also gone into the gallery. While we are both waiting, shall we look round this delightful place? and may I tell you a little of what I know about it?" It was in this manner, and apparently quite by accident, that Jasmine made the acquaintance of Arthur Noel, who turned out to be one of the best friends the girls were to make in London. Mr. Noel had taken a fancy to Jasmine's sweet little face, and Jasmine, when she met with a sympathetic listener, could be only too communicative. Before Miss Slowcum and her sisters and Poppy joined them Mr. Noel knew something of Jasmine's ambitions and of Primrose's modest hopes. Jasmine had even confided to him the brave resolve the three sisters had made not to sigh, or grumble, or wear themselves out with useless tears. He was very kind, although he could not be persuaded to say that he thought Primrose's scheme a wise one, but this chance encounter might never have led to anything further but for a little coincidence which shows what a small place the world is, after all. When Primrose and Daisy, Poppy and the sedate Miss Slowcum, joined Jasmine, as she stood with her companion examining Nelson's monument, they were accompanied by a handsome, bright-faced boy, who ran up to Mr. Noel, and linked his hand within his arm. This boy turned out to be young Frank Ellsworthy, and, as the girls all exclaimed on hearing the name, Mr. Noel assured them that the Ellsworthys were his greatest friends--that he loved Mrs. Ellsworthy almost as if she were his own mother. "I felt that I must speak to you," he said to Jasmine. "I cannot tell you why nor wherefore, but your face seemed familiar--I did not think you would turn out to be an absolute stranger."