The good little lady received her with delight, for Miss Egerton was a prime favorite with her.

“Arthur tells me that you know my girls,” she said presently.  “He hints to me that you and he have a secret knowledge of the address of my naughty, troublesome girls.”

“I do know where they are to be found,” said Miss Egerton in her gravest tones; “but before I begin to talk about them I want to transact a little business with you.  I know how kind you are, and how fond of helping people in distress.  At the present moment a lady of my acquaintance is in great poverty; she has got some valuable Spanish lace.  I should like to sell it for her.”

“I adore Spanish lace,” said Mrs. Ellsworthy, her eyes sparkling.

“I thought I once heard you say you did, so I have brought it with me.  May I show it to you?”

“How good of you, dear Miss Egerton; let me see it at once.  Real Spanish lace is of great value.  Oh, and white, too!  What lovely flounces!”

“The lady to whom they belonged know nothing of their real value; she was disposing of both shawl and flounces yesterday evening for ten shillings.”

“Oh, Miss Egerton! oh, poor, poor thing!  I will gladly give her fifty pounds for them.”

Miss Egerton coughed, and colored slightly.

“The fact is,” she said, “I do not think she ought to sell them; they are mementoes, and belonged to her mother.  Mrs. Ellsworthy, I won’t deceive you any longer.  This lace is now the property of Jasmine Mainwaring.  She took it to a pawnshop last night, and but for me would have absolutely given it away; I was just in time to redeem it.  Now the fact is, I happen to know that Primrose does not wish this lace to be sold; I offered, long ago, to find a purchaser for it, but she looked terribly distressed at the idea.  What I should like to do would be this; in short, in short—­I do not quite know how to put it—­”

“I know, I know,” said Mrs. Ellsworthy, clapping her hands, “you want me to be a pawnbroker, and to lend money on it.  I will, I will, with pleasure; oh, this is quite a fresh and delightful idea.”

“Give me ten pounds to help the poor child over her present difficulties,” said Miss Egerton, tears in her eyes.  “Yes, ten pounds is quite enough.  I will not take a penny more.”

“Now, Mrs. Ellsworthy, as we have comfortably disposed of this little matter, I want to talk to you most seriously about the girls.”

Mrs. Ellsworthy bent her head to listen with rapt attention; and the two women were engaged for a couple of hours in most earnest conversation.

That afternoon, when Jasmine, very weary and very depressed, toiled up the stairs to her Palace Beautiful, she found two letters awaiting her.  One was from Primrose, containing very cheerful news about Daisy.  Daisy was really getting better, and had even been out for a few minutes.  The other letter had not come by the post, and Jasmine wondered who her correspondent could be.  She opened it eagerly.  It contained a folded sheet of paper, out of which dropped two crisp Bank of England notes for five pounds each.  The sheet of paper itself contained the following words:—­