- come by astonishment, and Mr. Wakeman
quietly slipped away.
"Send her back in here," ordered the master of the house.
The little girl came, attended by a redheaded lad, somewhat taller than herself, with whom she had already established a delightful intimacy; for she held fast to his hand and beamed upon him with the tenderest of smiles as she cried:
"Oh, Uncle Joe! Here's Michael!"
"Huh! Well, Michael, what's wanted?"
"Josephine, Mr. Smith," returned the lad.
"Michael, Josephine! How long have you two been acquainted?"
"About five minutes, I guess," answered the manly little chap, pulling a battered silver watch from his jacket pocket. The watch was minus a crystal and he calmly adjusted the hands with one red little finger as he announced the hour. "It was just eleven o'clock when I rang the bell, and it's six minutes past now, Mr. Smith." Then he shook up his timepiece, generously held it toward Josephine and in-
