"well, as peter perry has said he didn't mean to insult you, i wouldn't think any more about it if i were you," said nellie, after her brother had told her of his meeting in the lane with peter: "about the shilling of course i mean. i dare say he's sorry enough he offered it to you now."

"oh, yes, i'm sure he is that!" tom answered. "he was sorry, i expect, as soon as i flung it back at him. but, nellie, he must be a dreadful fraud, mustn't he?"

"a dreadful fraud?"

"yes—to pretend he hadn't recognised me that day in the town, and—"

"perhaps he cannot remember faces," the little girl put in eagerly; "you may depend that's it! didn't you say he told you he had been hoping to meet you?"

"yes."

"well, he wouldn't have said that if he'd known he'd meet you, would he?"

"i don't know. perhaps not. he certainly looked as though he was speaking the truth."

tom, on his return home, had found nellie in the yard at the back of the house, where it was cool and shady on this hot august day. she was reclining in a hammock chair, and had been listlessly looking over a picture-book which had not interested her much; her thin little face had brightened when her brother joined her, and it was now expressive of eager attention.

"i think there is something very odd about him," tom continued, his mind still dwelling on peter perry; "i can't understand him at all. one thing i am sure of, and that is that he is a coward; he was in a regular panic of fear at the idea of the dogs going for each other again."

"well, it's dreadful to see a dog-fight," nellie remarked, with a shudder; "i know it makes me shake all over, and—"

"but then you're a girl!" tom broke in. "if you were a boy you wouldn't feel like that!"

"i believe i should! and dogs make such a frightful noise when they fight!"

tom laughed. "the noise does no harm, nellie. yes, in my opinion peter perry's a coward. and fancy a boy as big as i am promising not to go out alone! ah, i haven't told you about that!"

"no. tell me, tom, do."

he repeated the snatch of conversation he had overheard when passing halcyon villa on his way home, whilst she listened with amazement.

"that does seem very strange," she remarked, "for he looks quite able to take care of himself, doesn't he? perhaps he gave his aunt the promise to please her, because she wished it; if that was it of course it was very nice and kind of him."

"oh, very!" tom replied sarcastically. then he quickly changed the conversation by telling his sister of his visit to hatwell green, and made her laugh about zingra and tim, concluding with: "i do wish you had been with me, nellie!"

nellie wished so, too, but she did not say so, only heaved a deep, deep sigh. at that minute mrs. burford appeared at the back door of the house, and called to her little daughter to come in and see dr. brewer.

"may i come as well, mother?" requested tom, for he was eager to hear the doctor's opinion of nellie.

"no, tom," she answered; adding, "i do not expect dr. brewer will keep nellie long."

so tom remained in the yard, feeling very anxious, and tormenting himself by the fear that the doctor might discover there was something really seriously amiss with his sister. a quarter of an hour dragged by, then nellie, looking, to his intense joy and relief, smiling and hopeful, returned.

"dr. brewer says he believes he has thought of something which will make me quite strong again," she informed him gleefully; "but i shan't have it just yet because he has to write about it—send away for it, i suppose."

"oh!" exclaimed tom, very puzzled. then suddenly he comprehended the situation. dr. brewer meant that nellie should be sent to broadstairs.

"i hope," added the little girl, "that it won't be a very expensive medicine, because already i've cost father so much."

mr. burford came home to dinner at mid-day, and, later, tom again walked to the bank with him. mr. burford had had a few words in private with his wife, and he told tom that it had been decided that nellie was to go to broadstairs, if possible, in september.

"i shall return and spend the afternoon with her, now," tom said to himself, as soon as he had parted from his father at the bank door. "oh, how dreadfully we shall miss her when she's gone!"

a quarter of an hour later nellie, who had settled herself in an easy chair close to the window in the sitting-room, so that she could see the passers-by in the street, perceived her brother hurrying along towards home. the first glimpse of his countenance, which she could read like an open book, told her that something had happened to rouse his naturally quick temper, and she looked at him with an expression of inquiry in her eyes when, a very few minutes later, he burst noisily into her presence. "he's done it again!" he cried; "yes, he's actually dared—dared to do it again! this time i met him face to face—i was so close to him that i could have touched him!"

"him? who?" questioned nellie. "oh, do you mean that boy, peter perry?" there was sudden understanding in her tone.

"of course i do! no one but peter perry would have treated me so—so abominably as that! after speaking to me as he did, this morning, too! it's no good trying to make excuses for him now, nellie! i met him on the pavement, walking arm in arm with his aunt, and he neither looked at me nor spoke to me. i might have been— i might have been—"

the boy broke off, fairly choking with anger. there was a brief silence, during which nellie, looking deeply concerned, watched him with kind eyes, then he went on:

"you can't think how i hate him—the cad! oh, it is awful—awful to be treated with such contempt! oh, look!—there he is again!"

"where?" cried nellie, leaning forward in her chair to gaze out of the window.

tom pulled forward one of the lace curtains, and through it the sister and brother looked out at peter perry and his aunt, who were walking on the other side of the street. when they came directly opposite the house miss perry said something to her nephew, with whom she was still arm in arm; whereupon they immediately stepped off the pavement and crossed the road. a few moments later there was a knock at the front door of the house.

"why, they've come here!" cried tom, flushing scarlet; "they've made a mistake!—come to the wrong place!"

"mother is out," nellie said, "and jane's dressing—i heard her go upstairs not many minutes ago, so she can't be ready to answer the door yet. one of us will have to do it."

"i shan't!" tom declared. "let them wait till jane comes down."

jane was the maid-of-all-work, a good-natured girl who had been living with the burfords for nearly two years.

"perhaps i had better go," said nellie, rising; "jane will think me unkind if i don't. besides, i should like to know what miss perry wants; she may not have made a mistake."

the little girl left the room, full of curiosity. tom followed her into the passage, where he subsequently stood, watching and listening, his lips firmly compressed, a frown on his face.

nellie opened the door, and, as she had expected, found herself confronted by peter perry and his aunt. the latter smiled at her in a friendly fashion, and inquired: "mrs. burford lives here, does she not?"

"yes," nellie answered; "but she's out—she's gone shopping. did you want particularly to see her?"

"i wanted her to give me the character of a servant, jane fry, who has offered herself to me as a plain cook. please tell your mother i will write."

"oh, yes, i will! i knew jane was looking out for a situation as a cook. she thinks she should be earning higher wages than we pay her, and mother thinks so, too. i'm so sorry mother isn't here, but she won't be away long, i know. wouldn't you like to come in and wait for her?"

miss perry thanked nellie for her suggestion, and said that she would. accordingly, she and her nephew, both looking very smiling, entered the house. as nellie ushered them along the passage and into the little used drawing-room, tom slipped by them and out of the front door, which he closed after him with a bang.

"nellie doesn't care how badly i'm served," he told himself, wrathfully; "it's nothing to her how i'm slighted and insulted! just because miss perry smiled at her and spoke pleasantly, she was won over at once. she won't like it when she finds i'm gone! serve her right! did she expect me to stay and be civil to peter perry, i wonder? i longed—yes, longed—to kick him out of the house!"

he took his cap from one of his coat-pockets, where he often kept it, put it on his head, and walked away in the direction of the country, never pausing till he found himself in the wood through which he had passed with tim but a few hours before. there he flung himself full length on the mossy ground under the welcome shade of a huge beech tree, and gave himself up to nursing his grievances. he felt exceedingly annoyed with nellie.

"and i had intended to spend the whole afternoon with her, and to be as nice and kind to her as i could possibly be," he reflected; "but of course she didn't know that. i wonder what she'll talk about to those perrys! oh, dear, i do wish i had tim with me for company; he's with mother, i expect."

it was a very hot afternoon, and by and by tom began to feel very drowsy. his eyes had closed, and he was nearly asleep when the excited "yap, yap, yap!" of a dog sounded not far distant, and he sat up quickly, suddenly very wide awake indeed. could it be tim he heard? no, that was not tim's voice, but one much deeper. nearer it came, then a rabbit scudded close by him, pursued by an irish terrier—no other than peter perry's dog, bounce.

"bounce! bounce!" cried tom, springing to his feet. "he has got off by himself," he thought; "i suppose i'd better try to catch him and take him home. it won't do to leave him here, perhaps to get trapped."

by this time the dog had disappeared. a few minutes later, tom discovered him digging at a rabbit hole, and knew he had lost his quarry; he was without a collar, and in a great state of heat.

"i don't know why i should bother to take him home," tom muttered, as he stood watching him; "and i don't suppose he would follow me. here, bounce, bounce!"

but bounce took no notice. he continued digging, now and again uttering a whine of excitement, and pausing occasionally to sniff into the hole to assure himself the rabbit was still there. tom searched his pockets and found a piece of string; he looked at it with a frown.

"i could lead him by this," he thought, "but i won't—no, i won't! i won't interfere with him, and i hope—yes, i hope he will stay here for hours, so that his master will think he is lost! i will mind my own business! i will let the dog go! dig away, bounce, to your heart's content!"

he turned on his heel and walked off. half an hour later he arrived at home. as he shut the front door behind him, nellie came downstairs. "oh, why did you go away?" she cried. "i'm so sorry you did! listen! you mustn't be angry with peter perry any longer! he didn't see you—he couldn't see you, because—oh, isn't it sad?— because he is blind—quite, quite blind!"