I will teach him to play with a rattlesnake’s tongue, I will teach him the tiger to rob of its young, I will teach him ’twere better a man were unborn If the love of a proud-hearted woman he scorn. The next day, after fitting out his manly little nephews in handsome new clothing, Leon Dalrymple took them to their future home, where they met a cordial welcome from the woman who was soon to be their uncle’s wife again. But not so with Cora, who watched their movements with angry eyes. To the little boys, fresh from the tiny cot of poverty, the great house on Fifth Avenue was a wonderful Aladdin’s palace. They gazed about them in round-eyed wonder, and as soon as the first sense of being company was over and they were left somewhat to their own devices, they began to explore the house, peeping into room after room with childish curiosity, mounting stairway after stairway, and wandering along broad, dark corridors, until they could not find their way back to the lower rooms where they had been left by Mrs. Dalrymple. “I’m losted,” sobbed Willie, the six-year-old, digging his little fists into his tearful blue eyes. “So am I,” cried Mark, who was older and more manly; “but don’t cry! Here’s another door! Let’s peep in here!” seizing the knob, and shaking it vigorously. But the lock refused to yield, and very suddenly he was caught by Cora Ellyson, who slapped his face till his ears tingled with pain. CHAPTER XLI. HAPPINESS SUPREME. Cora’s eyes flashed, her lips and face went ashen white, her form trembled with passion, as, catching the boys by their shoulders, she shook both violently, screaming: “You little meddlesome wretches, how dare you sneak around this way, poking your noses into things that are none of your business! Go away, and if I ever find either one of you up in this hall again, I will kill you both!” The elder boy shook himself loose from her angry grasp and tried to rescue Willie, saying tearfully: “We didn’t mean no harm, ma’am.” “Well, keep away from the servants’ hall, hereafter. Go downstairs now, and never come up here any more, and mind you never tell any one I slapped you and shook you just now. If you do I will shut you up in jail to stay forever!” menaced Cora, with flashing eyes. The boys started to go down obediently, Willie hushing his low sobs in sheer terror, then Cora flew back to the locked door, opened it with a key that she took from a little concealed recess, beneath a small rug that lay before the door. She did not dream that the curious Mark had darted back to the head of the stairway, and was closely watching her movements. He put his arm around Willie, whispering excitedly: “She has unlocked that room and gone and shut herself up in it, the mean, spiteful thing! Do you know I believe she has got something shut up in there.” “I hate her, and I’m going to tell aunt on her!” came the sobbed reply.