MY DÉBUT IN "PUNCH."
I am, I hope, decently modest. When I said so once to Margery she remarked that there was no need to make a virtue of necessity. But younger sisters, of course...
I came down to breakfast at my usual time—as the others were finishing—and found a letter awaiting me. I opened it under the usual fire of insults from Margery and John. To-day I ignored them, however, and my young heart gave a small jump. I am a modest young man.
"What's the matter with you, little Sunbeam?" asked John (he is Cecilia's husband, through no fault of mine). "Is the tailor more rude than usual, or has she found out your address?"
"The Vicar has asked him to sing at the Band of Hope," suggested Margery.
I commenced my breakfast.
"What is it, Alan?" asked Cecilia.
"Oh, nothing," I said easily. "The proof of a thing of mine that Punch has accepted."
They hadn't a word to say for a few seconds, then Margery began:—
"Poor old dear, it must be some awful mistake."