"Well, you see, when the horses ran over the dinner you gave me this
morning it was all knocked out in the road, and I had nothing to eat,
so Captain Josh brought me such a nice lunch."

"Did you see him?"

"No, I didn't. But there was a big rosy apple, and I know where it
came from. It grew on that tree right by the captain's house."

Mrs. Royal sat very still for some time. She was thinking over what
Rod had just told her. Tom Dunker's action troubled her, and she
thought how mean it was for him to take revenge on a little child for
what her husband had done. But there was compensation, for Captain
Josh's kindness interested her greatly. No one had been able to
understand the old man, and every one dreaded him. That he had
defended Rodney, and then had taken a lunch for him all the way to the
schoolhouse was something unusual.

For some time she sat there, and when she at last rose to go downstairs
to meet her husband, who had just returned home, Rod was fast asleep.
His cares for the present were over, and as Mrs. Royal watched the
little curly head lying upon the pillow, she gave a deep sigh as she
bent over and kissed him. Must he go through life handicapped? she
asked herself, for no fault of his own? Would he always be looked upon
as a waif, an ill-starred child, and in the eyes of the world, a pauper?

Parson Dan had come in from a long drive from the outmost portion of
his large parish. He was tired and hungry, and enjoyed the supper
which was awaiting him. It was then that his wife told him about Rod's