'You don't say so!' said Cousin Archie. He took the child up on his knee.
'Yes,' continued Danny, settling himself against a comfortable shoulder. 'She has a little brother of her own, and so she is to be like a big sister to us.'
'Oh, that's the idea, is it?' said Archibald Herries. 'And does your mother say where this mighty fine young lady is to find a room?'
'It was Jean sent us to ask you that,' said Willy, innocently. 'I sleep with mother, you know, and Danny by Jean in the other room, but mother says the lady will want Jean's bed, and Jean would know where she's to sleep, and may she get M'Alister, our landlord, to hire us the garret? It's empty, and 'twill make no difference to him.'
'Except in the matter of the rent—none whatever, Willy,' said Herries, more drily than ever. 'But that's a secondary matter which we need not mention.'
He was frowning, and his delicate features looked severe and cold. Nevertheless a smile lurked about his lips, and it ended in a rather bitter laugh.
'Tell Jean to get the garret from M'Alister,' he said. 'You would not put her out in the street for the new lady—would you, Danny?'
'To be sure not,' said Danny solemnly. Herries had absently held one of the boy's thin legs, and with a movement the ragged foot-gear caught his eye.
'That's a sorry shoe, Danny,' he said. 'What's the matter with it?'
'Well,' said Danny, gravely, 'it is the sole coming off, I think. It has been coming off for a long time.'