THE LOST HALF-SOVEREIGN. 55

And her mistress gave in to her. “Though
certainly you must not bear the loss, nurse,”
she said kindly; “for in all these years you
have saved me too many half-sovereigns, and
whole ones too, for me to mind much about
the loss of one. And you've asked Carrots,
you say; you're sure he knows nothing about
te? oF

“ Quite sure, ma'am,” said nurse unhesitat-
ingly.

And several days went on, and nothing more
was said or heard about the half-sovereign.

Only all this time the little yellow sixpenny

lay safely hidden away in Carrots’s paint-box.
In a sense he had forgotten about it. He

knew it was safe there, and he had almost
fixed in his mind not to tell Floss about it
till the day they should be going to the toy-
shop to buy their hoops. Once or twice he
had been on the point of showing it to her,
but had stopped short, thinking how much
more delightful it would he to “surprise” her.
He had quite left off: puzzling his head as