then backing around, he let one squirming pair of legs rest on her lap,
freed his arm, and Ann had the puppy. "You can play with him a little
while," he remarked graciously.

"Worth," said Katie, "it is unto my friend Miss Forrest, known in the
intimacies of the household as Miss Ann, that you have just made this
tender offering."

Worth took firm hold on his remaining puppy and stood there surveying
Ann. "I came last night," he volunteered, after what seemed satisfactory
inspection.

Ann just smiled at him, rumpling the puppy's soft woolly coat.

"How long you been here?" he asked cordially.

"Just two days," she told him.

"I'm going to stay all summer," he announced, hoisting his puppy a
little higher.

"That's nice," said Ann; her puppy was climbing too.

"How long you goin' to stay?" he wanted to know.

"Miss Ann is going to stay just as long as we are real nice to her,
Worthie," said Katie, looking up from the magazine she was cutting.

"She can play with the puppies every morning, Aunt Kate," he cried in a
fervent burst of hospitality.