unrestrainedly in the honest grey eyes, as she knelt on the ground and
tugged Leonie's short skirts into place. "Yer did give us a turn,
dearie; yer might 'av 'ad yer 'and nipped orf by that there brute. Come
'_ere_, Lil and 'Erb--I'll 'ave yer eaten by the camuls next!"

The bow-legged twins, with their spirit of adventure quashed, rolled back
to mother, and stood wide-eyed as she ran her work-worn hand through the
stranger's luxuriant curls.

"Give us a kiss, lovey, an' go an' get some tea!"

For the second time that day Leonie moved to obey the same command, but
this time there was no hesitation as she put her thin arms round the
woman's neck and kissed her sweetly once and again.

And the woman, who sensed something amiss in the quivering little body,
held her firmly, patting her gently with the same hand which dealt out
indiscriminately such resounding and often well-earned smacks among her
own; and Leonie sighed and leant confidingly against the stout, badly
corseted figure.

"How comfy," she whispered shyly. "How soft you are. Auntie never holds
me in her arms, and when Nannie does she's always full of bits of things
that stick _out_."

And then with a little scream of delight she was away, speeding over the
gravel in the wake of a lumbering great form wending its way in and out
of the crowd.

"Cut along, Sir, or you'll find her 'obnobbing with the gorilla next!