' A VISIT TO MARY 53

Grace had specially said they might go under
Mary's charge. Did that mean that they might

go by themselves now that Mary was unable to
escort them ?

‘Well, what do you think, Miss Emmeline-

dear ?’ asked Mary, anxiously.

‘Oh, Emmeline,’ pleaded Kitty, as Emmeline
still hesitated, ‘of course she wouldn't mind!
Why you're twelve years old—almost grown up.’

That decided Emmeline She could not bear
to lose prestige in the eyes of the little sister
who thought her almost grown up. ‘I'm sure
Aunt Grace couldn't mind,’ she said boldly ; ‘ she
knows I'm quite to be trusted to look after the
others.’

‘That you are, my darling,’ agreed Mary, rather
too easily reassured-—as a nurse it had been her
one weakness that she never could endure to dis-
appoint the children—‘ and Micky and Kitty will
be as good as gold, I'm sure’; whereupon the
twins assumed the expressions of a pair of youth-
ful saints.

‘May Micky and I look at the picture Bible?’
suggested Kitty meekly. Whenever the twins
visited that house—they had often done so in
the days when Mary was still their nurse-one
of two amusements was the recognised order of
the day. Either they played—not the real game,
but one of their own invention—with a set of