'Come at once when I tell you, sir!'
The bird came down obediently.
'Go directly into the house to your perch, sir.'
Joe obeyed and went waddling off with trailing wings. But just on the threshold of the door he looked up at Skeleton again, and laughed so derisively that if there had been a boot anywhere handy he would have shied it at him.
'Ha, ha, ha! Ho, ho, ho! Set you up!'
'We'll have peace now,' said Crona.
Said Biffins Lee to Lotty that evening: 'From the way Mary puts it, I find that Crona isn't a bad sort after all. You may visit her, and take Chops and your dog for safety. But mind'——
'What, father?'
'The mermaid—in ten days' time.'
Lotty did not care much. There was a joy at her heart to-night. She had just received such a dear, kind letter from her Mr Blake, and had still to read it—for the fifth time.