A lapse of memory, I suppose.

Thank you, Mrs.Housekeeper." In a moment more, he and his bag were on their way to the fashionable quarter of the town.
"You will make allowances for my poor little Jack, I am sure," said Mrs.
Wagner.
"My dear madam, Jack amuses me!" Mrs.Wagner winced a little at the tone of the widow's reply.

"I have cured him of all the worst results of his cruel imprisonment in the mad-house," she went on.

"But his harmless vanity seems to be inbred; I can do nothing with him on that side of his character.

He is proud of being trusted with anything, especially with keys; and he has been kept waiting for them, while I had far more important matters to occupy me.