"Hum!" said Bertha Forbes, rather shamefacedly, "I bought in some of that very lace at a customhouse sale. It was that which trimmed her wedding dress. I thought"--firmly--"that it was no more than right." Mr. Belknap cast an admiring glance at the lady. "Miss Forbes," he said feelingly, "your sense of poetic justice does you credit; it does indeed. I hope we shall see a lot of you in the future. Our house on Staten Island is always open to you." "Thanks," said Bertha Forbes gruffly. But she shook hands with right manly heartiness when she took leave of the little party on the dock, and she actually kissed the infant, while depositing an unwholesomely large box of confectionery in the pocket of his coat. "It is a shame to call this child _Buster_," said Miss Forbes. "I detest the name myself; think it exerts a positively demoralizing influence on the character. _I_ shall call him Everett in future." And she did so on the numerous pleasant occasions when she visited the Belknap family. As for Master Everett, thus happily restored to his rightful appellation, he actually came to adore Miss Forbes, and called her his "dear old Berfa," to her immense delight and satisfaction. CHAPTER XXI One morning two weeks later as Lady Agatha Aubrey-Blythe, her daughter Gwendolen, and her two sons Percy and Cecil were gathered rather aimlessly in Lady Agatha's private morning-room, "a lady" was announced, as desirous of speaking with Lady Agatha. "Who is it, Susan?" asked Lady Agatha of the maid, who appeared all of a tremble with some carefully suppressed excitement. "Oh, my lady, it's Miss Jane Evelyn as ever was!" declared Susan, beaming with doubtful delight. "_It's Jane!_" exclaimed the group in concert. "Show her up at once, Susan," said Lady Agatha, with a graciousness which allayed poor Susan's fears. "Children," she added, turning to her attentive offspring, "you must remember that our dear Jane is quite an heiress now." Gwendolen put up a haughty lip. "I don't want her here, even if she is," she said disagreeably. "Of course you don't!" crowed Percy. "Jane's a beauty and you aren't!" "Percy--_my son_!" exclaimed Lady Agatha warningly, and swept forward to greet the small, slight, bright-eyed person who entered the room escorted by the broadly smiling Susan. "My _dear_ Jane!" murmured Lady Agatha, enfolding the little figure in her voluminous embrace. "How we _have_ suffered since your cruel desertion of us!" "I suppose it must have annoyed you, Aunt Agatha," said Jane sweetly. "But it couldn't be helped, you see." Then she turned to the two boys, who had greeted her vociferously, and to Gwendolen, who sulkily offered a cheek to be kissed. The girl's bright eyes were misty and she trembled a little as she looked from one to the other. English sights and sounds and faces had never seemed so delightful, yet she was no less determined upon leaving them all for the land of her adoption.