to dear papa."

"Cruel! To save him!"

"I wish I was sure that we were doing right. And yet what else can we
do? Well, then, Ida, the die is cast, and we will call upon Mrs.
Westmacott tomorrow."



----


CHAPTER IX.


A FAMILY PLOT.


Little did poor Doctor Walker imagine as he sat at his breakfast-table
next morning that the two sweet girls who sat on either side of him were
deep in a conspiracy, and that he, munching innocently at his muffins,
was the victim against whom their wiles were planned. Patiently they
waited until at last their opening came.

"It is a beautiful day," he remarked. "It will do for Mrs. Westmacott.
She was thinking of having a spin upon the tricycle."

"Then we must call early. We both intended to see her after breakfast."