``Ho! I'm not worrying,'' retorted Bertram
with a contented smile; ``besides, as perhaps
you noticed, it wasn't Marie that I asked--to
marry me!''



CHAPTER XI

A CLOCK AND AUNT HANNAH


Mrs. Kate Hartwell, the Henshaw brothers'
sister from the West, was expected on the tenth.
Her husband could not come, she had written,
but she would bring with her, little Kate, the
youngest child. The boys, Paul and Egbert,
would stay with their father.

Billy received the news of little Kate's coming
with outspoken delight.

``The very thing!'' she cried. ``We'll have
her for a flower girl. She was a dear little creature,
as I remember her.''

Aunt Hannah gave a sudden low laugh.

``Yes, I remember,'' she observed. ``Kate