“I did not know things looked so badly down here,” he said apologetically.  “I am sure I must have had everything properly arranged when Nurse Bridget came.  Your cradle was comfortable, was it not?”

“I scarcely remember,” answered his daughter demurely.

“Oh! ah! yes!  It is some time ago, I believe?”

“Seventeen years.”

“Y-e-s:  I had forgotten.”

He had an idea, this man of a hundred schemes, that his “baby” was laughing at him, and, singularly enough, it raised her in his estimation.  He even asked her to come and live with him in the city, but she refused, and he did not insist.

Then he set about making a change, which was soon accomplished.  He sent for furniture and carpets, and cleared the rubbish from without and within.  Under his decided orders a complete outfit “suitable for his daughter” soon arrived, and with it a maid.  Nellie, whose ideas of maids were taken from Lucetta, was much disappointed in the actual being, and the modern Lucetta was also disappointed when she saw the “howling wilderness” to which she had been inveigled; so the two parted speedily.  But Mr. Archer remained:  he was one of those men who do things thoroughly which they have once undertaken.  When he was satisfied with Nellie’s appearance he took her to call on all the neighboring families within reach.

Among others, they went to see Mrs. Overbeck, Danby’s mother, whom Mr. Archer had known in his youth.  Nellie wore her brave trappings bravely, and acted her part nicely until Mrs. Overbeck gave her a motherly kiss at parting, when she grew pale and trembled.  Why should she?  Her hostess thought it was from the heat, and insisted on her taking a glass of wine.

In the autumn of this year Danby graduated and returned home.  Nellie had not seen him during all this interval:  he had spent his vacations abroad, and had become quite a traveled man.  While she retained her affection for him unchanged, he scarcely remembered the funny little girl who had been so devoted to him in the years gone by.  A few days after he arrived, his mother, in giving him the local news, mentioned the charming acquaintance she had made of a young lady who lived in the neighborhood.  On hearing her name the young man exclaimed, “Why, that must be Nellie!”

“Do you know her?” asked his mother in surprise.

“Of course I do, and many a jolly time I have had with her.  Odd little thing, ain’t she?”

“I should not call her odd,” remarked his mother.

“You do not know her as I do.”

“Perhaps not.  I suppose you will go with me when I return her visit.”

“Certainly I will—­just in for that sort of thing.  A man feels the need of some relaxation after a four years’ bore, and there is nothing like the society of the weaker sex to give the mind repose.”

“Shocking boy!” said the fond mother with a smile.

In a short time the projected call was made.