catch an omnibus, and would have been run over if a gentleman had not
snatched him from under the horses' feet."

"My precious boy!" laying her hand on his head, but keeping him at a
distance. "How wrong of you, Katherine, to let his hand go!"

"I did not let it go; I was not holding it," returned Katherine, dryly.

"At Hyde Park Corner?" pursued Mrs. Frederic Liddell, eagerly. "Was the
gentleman soldierly and stout, with gray mustaches?"

"No. He was young and slight and clean-shaved."

"That is curious; for Colonel Ormonde was saying at luncheon to-day that
he had saved, or helped to save, such a pretty little boy from being run
over. I don't exactly remember what he said. I was listening to Mrs. De
Vere Hopkins, and Mrs. Burnett's boy was making a noise. Colonel Ormonde
said he was just like a little fellow he had seen nearly run over that
morning. I am sure Tom Burnett is not half as handsome as my Cecil."

"I should not have been run over if auntie had left me alone."

"Go and get mother's tea, and you, Charlie, fetch her some nice bread
and butter," said Katherine, who, though six or seven years her
sister-in-law's junior, looked at first sight older. "There _was_ an
elderly gentleman such as you describe, talking with the young man who
rescued Cecil, and he was very polite and interested in Cecil, who broke
away from me, though he had promised to stay by my side."

"Promised," repeated Mrs. Frederic, lightly, and carefully dusting her