Aggie was delighted to see him, and sprang into his arms, with a scream of joy, as he entered.  After a few minutes’ talk, Mrs. Walsham suggested that she should put on her hat and go for a walk with him, and, in high contentment, the child trotted off, holding her grandfather’s hand.  Turning to the left, the sergeant took the path up the hill, and when he reached the top, sat down on the short turf, with Aggie nestling up against him.

“So you are quite well and happy, Aggie?” he asked.

“Quite well, grampa, and very happy; but I do wish so much that you were here.  Oh. it would be so nice to have you to go out with every day!”

“I am afraid that cannot be managed, Aggie.  I have been busy so long that I could not settle down quietly here.  Besides, I must live, you know.”

“But wouldn’t people give you money for the show if you lived here, grampa?  You always got money here the same as other places.”

“Yes, my dear, but I could not get fresh pictures every day, and should soon tire them by showing the old house.”

“But you are sorry sometimes, grampa, not to have me with you?”

“Yes, Aggie, very sorry.  I miss you terribly sometimes, and I am always thinking about you.”

“Then why don’t you take me away again, grampa?”

“Because, as I told you, Aggie, I want you to learn to read, and to grow up quite a little lady.”

“Does reading make one a lady, grampa?”

“No, Aggie, not by itself, but with other things.”

“And when I am quite grown up and big, and know how to read nicely, shall I be able to go with you again?”

“We will see about that, Aggie, when the time comes.  There is plenty of time yet to think about that.”

“But I am getting on very fast, grampa, and the lady says I am a good girl.  So it won’t be such a very long time before I can leave.”

“It will be some time, yet.  You have only got to read little words yet, but there are lots of long words which you will come to presently.  But Mrs. Walsham tells me that you are getting on nicely, and that you are a very good girl, which pleases me very much; and when I am walking along with my box, I shall like to be able to think of you as being quite comfortable and happy.”

“And I go walks with Jim, grampa, and Jim has made me a boat, and he says someday, when it is very fine and quiet, he will take me out in a big boat, like that boat, you know; and he is going to ask you if he may, for the lady said I must not go out with him till he has asked you.  And he said he won’t let me tumble over, and I am going to sit quite, quite still.”

“Yes, Aggie, I don’t see any harm in your going out with him.  I am sure he will only take you when it is fine, and he will look after you well.  You like him, don’t you?”

“Oh!  I do, grampa; and you know, it was him who got me out of the water, else I should never have come out, and never have seen grampa again; and he has made me a boat.  Oh! yes, I do like him!”