"Crinoline laid down her lute--it was in fact an accordion--and gazing listlessly over the rails of the balcony, looked out at the green foliage which adorned the enclosure of the square below. "It was Tavistock Square. The winds of March and the showers of April had been successful in producing the buds of May." 'Ah, Charley, that's taken from the old song,' said Katie, 'only you've put buds instead of flowers.' 'That's quite allowable,' said Mrs. Woodward--"successful in producing the buds of May. The sparrows chirped sweetly on the house-top, and the coming summer gladdened the hearts of all--of all except poor Crinoline. "'I wonder whether he has a heart, said she; 'and if he has, I wonder whether it is at his office.' "As she thus soliloquized, the door was opened by a youthful page, on whose well-formed breast, buttons seemed to grow like mushrooms in the meadows in August. "'Mr. Macassar Jones,' said the page; and having so said, he discreetly disappeared. He was in his line of life a valuable member of society. He had brought from his last place a twelvemonth's character that was creditable alike to his head and heart; he was now found to be a trustworthy assistant in the household of the Lady Crinoline's mother, and was the delight of his aged parents, to whom he regularly remitted no inconsiderable portion of his wages. Let it always be remembered that the life even of a page may be glorious. All honour to the true and brave!" 'Goodness, Charley--how very moral you are!' said Linda. 'Yes,' said he; 'that's indispensable. It's the intention of the _Daily Delight_ always to hold up a career of virtue to the lower orders as the thing that pays. Honesty, high wages, and hot dinners. Those are our principles.' 'You'll have a deal to do before you'll bring the lower orders to agree with you,' said Uncle Bat. 'We have a deal to do,' said Charley, 'and we'll do it. The power of the cheap press is unbounded.' "As the page closed the door, a light, low, melancholy step was heard to make its way across the drawing-room. Crinoline's heart had given one start when she had heard the announcement of the well-known name. She had once glanced with eager inquiring eye towards the door. But not in vain to her had an excellent mother taught the proprieties of elegant life. Long before Macassar Jones was present in the chamber she had snatched up the tambour-frame that lay beside her, and when he entered she was zealously engaged on the fox's head that was to ornament the toe of a left-foot slipper. Who shall dare to say that those slippers were intended to grace the feet of Macassar Jones?" 'But I suppose they were,' said Katie. 'You must wait and see,' said her mother; 'for my part I am not at all so sure of that.' 'Oh, but I know they must be; for she's in love with him,' said Katie.