Page:The mislaid uncle (IA mislaiduncle00raym).pdf/156

 at finding the name of the trained nurse was also Smith, and to prevent unpleasant complications, requested that he might call her as the little girl did, "Mrs. Red Kimono," or, more briefly, "Miss Kimono," she having set him right as to her maidenly condition.

She readily and smilingly agreed to this, and, reporting the matter to Mrs. Merriman, laughed so heartily over it, that that lady remonstrated, saying:

"Dear Miss Desire, it's outrageous. Under the circumstances I would never permit it. The idea! He excludes you from table with himself and the little girl, does he not? For so Michael tells me."

"Yes. Not, I fancy, from arrogance, but merely from force of habit. He dislikes women, utterly and sincerely. Or he thinks he does. But Josephine has won his whole heart for childhood, and he likes her to be with him as constantly as possible. From what the servants tell me, she has wrought a complete transformation in the household. And she is so lovely, so winning, that event