and to pull the long sleeves down over her hands. He even bent to stretch
the garment an inch or two nearer the tops of her boots.

"Are you cold?" he demanded anxiously, for a stiff wind had risen and
blew upon them with icy breath.

"Not a single bit," she answered, submitting herself to his anxious
ministrations with her most engaging six-going-on-seven manner. Then she
caught one of his fumbling hands in hers and pressed it to her cheek for
a moment.

"Now," she said, "we can never be lonely any more, can we? I'm going to
race you down the hill, across the meadow and over three fences to
supper!" And before he could stay her she had flitted through the bushes
and was running on before him, slim and fleet.

He caught her in time to swing her over the first fence and capture an
elusive caress. The second barrier she vaulted and eluded him entirely,
but from the top of the last she bent and gave him his kiss as he lifted
her down. In another moment they had joined the circle around the
crackling fire, where they were greeted with the wildest hilarity and
overwhelmed with food and banter.

"Did you people ever hear of the man who bought a fifty-dollar coon dog,
took him out to hunt the first night, almost cried because he thought he
had lost him down a sink hole, hunted all night for him, came home in the
daylight and found pup asleep under the kitchen stove?" demanded David as
he filled two long glasses with a simmering decoction, from which arose
the aroma of baked apples, spices, and some of the major's eighty-six
corn heart. "Caroline is my point to my little story. Have you two been