1S!)7 



TllK AMI-JlllUAN BEE KEE'l'EU. 



"This IS UiV little friend, Keuneth 

 Waller, who .said. "Kenneth, this is 

 Mr. Bradley ' 



"What s the matter with your face?" 

 asked tlie Hii.all boy. "Have you been 

 abroad?' 



Mr Brafl'ey placed a broad fist on 

 the round iwm table and leaned down 

 toward Ma.st(r Waller good naturedly. 

 He seemed as confused at the meeting 

 as Miss Lli vcllyn, and as unprepared 

 with couvtisiaion 



"1 have been abroad, young man. I've 

 been hunting orchids." 



"Are you home tor pood now?" asked 

 Kenneth 



Miss Llewellyn gripped the parasol 

 that n sted in her lap with both hands. 



"1 can t do any good at home," said 

 Mr. Bradley "1 am off again to South 

 America in a day or two. " 



"Why don't you stay in Loudon?" 



"Nobody asks me to stay. " 



"Should have thought," said Master 

 Waller, "that you could have got some- 

 body to do that. Have you any foreign 

 postage stamps about you?'-' 



Friendship between the two gentle- 

 men was cell ented and made permanent 

 by the production of several foreign 

 stamps and an envelope to place them 

 in. People were coming up to the re- 

 freshment tent now, the band having 

 decided to rest for half an hour and re- 

 cover breath, and Master Waller invited 

 Mr. Bradley to take his chair. 



"You don't mind?'" asked Bradley 

 of Miss Llewellyn. 



"Not at E 11, ' she said politely. 



"May I smoke?" 



"Let me strike the match, " inter- 

 posed Master Waller. "I'm awfully 

 good at that. And tell us some of your 

 adventures." 



"They wouldn't interest Miss Llew- 

 ellyn." 



"Girls don't count," said Master 

 "Waller. "Tell me. Make it one where 

 you nearly lost your life. " 



So 10 or 15 minutes were thus occu- 

 pied, the small boy seated on Bradley's 

 knee and staring at him with open 

 mouthed astonishment. Miss Llewellyn, 

 her head bowed, .studiui the band pro- 

 gramme in apparently a laborious starch 

 for the misprints that a musical pro- 

 gramme always offers. Bradhy told the 

 story well, without obtruding his o\\ ij 



share in the adventure, and when he 

 had finished puncLed the small boy hu- 

 morously to briiiji him back from South 

 America to Regent's park. 



"Ami is that story true?" asked the 

 small boj" respectially. 



"It L: s that drawback, youngster." 



"Y>(.ii" said Master Waller, "I'm a 

 man that s awfully fond of adventure, 

 but 1 shouldn't care for that. What did 

 you thiLk of when that fierce animal 

 was waiting to spring upon you?" 



"Guess." 



"Ca-rt," said Master Waller. "Can 

 you, Jviiss Llewellyn?" 



She shook her head and again became 

 interested in the baud programme. 

 Bradley looked at her and waited for 

 her to speak, but she made no sign. 

 Now, silence may at times be tolerable 

 for grown up folk, but for impatient 

 young men like Master Waller it brings 

 nothing but weariness. 



"Is there anj- chance of seeing these 

 orchids, Mr. Bradley?" asked the youth. 

 "It'll be something to brag about to my 

 people if I could just get a sight of 

 them. " 



"We'll all go over to the marquee 

 and have a look. Miss Llewellyn, will 

 you come, or shall we leave you here? 

 There's rather a crush. " 



"Let's leave her, " suggested Master 

 Waller. "Miss Llewellyn likes being 

 alone. " 



"I think I will stay here," she said. 



"We shall be back in ten minutes," 

 said Bradley. 



Master Waller had to trot to keep up 

 with the long strides of his new friend, 

 but he did not mind this because he felt 

 a kind of reflected glory in being accom- 

 panied by the man who had brought 

 home some of the rarest of the amazing, 

 specimens in the crowded tent. 



"Girls are a nuisance, aren't they?" 

 said Master Waller, looking up confi- 

 dentially. 



"Sometimes, " said Bradley. 



"She isn't so tiresome, though, as 

 some. ' ' 



"I think I agree with you there." 



"Works awfully hard — too hard, my 

 mamma says. " 



"■No necessity for that surely," said 

 Bradley rather sharply. 



"But Miss Llewellyn has to live," 

 urged the small boy. "My mamma says 

 that ^e was ■well off for a vear nr two 



