boy!" as strongly as a face could.

The rest of the journey was accomplished after the usual style of such
travels when the aunt and nephews went out together. Cecil was
constantly rebuked and made to sit down, and as constantly resumed his
favorite position; so that he ultimately reached home with beautifully
clean shoes, having wiped "the dust off his feet" effectually on the
garments of his fellow-passengers, while his little brother nestled to
his auntie's side and gazed observantly on his fellow-travellers,
arriving at curious conclusions respecting them, to be afterward set
forth to the amusement of his hearers.

Leaving the omnibus at the Royal Oak, the trio diverged to one of the
streets between that well-known establishment and the Bayswater Road--a
street which had still a few trees and small semi-detached villas, with
front gardens left at one end, the relics of a past when Penrhyn Place
was "quite the country"; while at the other, bricks, mortar,
scaffolding, and a deeply rutted roadway indicated the commencement of
mansions which would soon swallow up their humbler predecessors.

At one of these villas, the garden of which was tolerably neat, the
little boys and their aunt stopped, and were admitted by a smart but not
over-clean girl, who welcomed the children with a cheerful, "Well,
Master Cecil, you are just in nice time for dinner! Come, get your
things off; your gran'ma has a treat for you."

"Has she? Oh, what is it? Do tell, Lottie!"

"Don't mind, dear, if you are tired; your morning-gown will do very
well, as we are alone."