Archie's Mistake

ittle chap will lock the door, so I'll just slip in while he's going his rounds, and be ready for him when he comes back--that'll all be as easy as sneezing. I'll make it pretty hot, though, for Master Stephen when I've got him."

He went home to his tea; and Stephen, all unconscious of the plots being laid against him, entered the little room where the night-watch sat, and got out his meagre supper, which he had had no time yet to swallow. The room had two doors; one led to the courtyard through which Stephen had entered, and the other, the upper half of which was glass, took into Mr. Fairfax's private office and the larger counting-house beyond, out of which the passages leading to the general workrooms opened.

"I hope the little 'uns 'ull get on all safe for a few nights without me," he said to himself, as he ate his slice of bread. "Polly's so sensible, she'll do all right, if those rackety boys 'ull do as she tells 'em. They promised me they would, but there's no tellin'."

He sat thin