“And so, my Porges, if we have to say ‘Good-bye’ now,—­the sooner we shall meet again,—­some day—­somewhere.”

But Small Porges only sighed, and shook his head in hopeless dejection.

“Does—­she—­know you’re going,—­I mean my Auntie Anthea?”

“Oh yes, she knows, Porges.”

“Then I s’pose that’s why she was crying so, in the night—­”

“Crying?”

“Yes;—­she’s cried an awful lot lately, hasn’t she?  Last night,—­when I woke up, you know, an’ couldn’t sleep, I went into her room, an’ she was crying—­with her face hidden in the pillow, an’ her hair all about her—­”

“Crying!”

“Yes; an’ she said she wished she was dead.  So then, a course, I tried to comfort her, you know.  An’ she said ’I’m a dreadful failure, Georgy dear, with the farm, an’ everything else.  I’ve tried to be a father and mother to you, an’ I’ve failed in that too,—­so now, I’m going to give you a real father,’—­an’ she told me she was going to marry—­Mr. Cassilis.  But I said ’No’—­’cause I’d ‘ranged for her to marry you an’ live happy ever after.  But she got awful angry again an’ said she’d never marry you if you were the last man in the world—­’cause she ’spised you so—­”

“And that would seem to—­settle it!” nodded Bellew gloomily, “so it’s ‘Good-bye’ my Porges!  We may as well shake hands now, and get it over,” and Bellew rose from the portmanteau, and sighing, held out his hand.

“Oh!—­but wait a minute!” cried Small Porges eagerly, “I haven’t told you what the Moon said to me, last night—­”

“Ah!—­to be sure, we were forgetting that!” said Bellew with an absent look, and a trifle wearily.

“Why then—­please sit down again, so I can speak into your ear, ’cause what the Moon told me to tell you was a secret, you know.”

So, perforce, Bellew re-seated himself upon his portmanteau, and drawing Small Porges close, bent his head down to the anxious little face; and so, Small Porges told him exactly what the Moon had said.  And the Moon’s message, (whatever it was), seemed to be very short, and concise, (as all really important messages should be); but these few words had a wondrous, and magical effect upon George Bellew.  For a moment he stared wide-eyed at Small Porges like one awaking from a dream, then the gloom vanished from his brow, and he sprang to his feet.  And, being upon his feet, he smote his clenched fist down into the palm of his hand with a resounding smack.

“By heaven!” he exclaimed, and took a turn to and fro across the width of the lane, and seeing Small Porges watching him, caught him suddenly up in his arms, and hugged him.

“And the moon will be at the full, tonight!” said he.  Thereafter he sat him down upon his portmanteau again, with Small Porges upon his knee, and they talked confidentially together with their heads very close together and in muffled tones.

When, at last, Bellew rose, his eyes were bright and eager, and his square chin, prominent, and grimly resolute.