Don't give her any chance to say yes or no. I want to know her a
little better before I make up my mind. When the boy comes I'll happen
along in my buggy with him, and then we'll see. And meantime Willy,
keep your eye on Sam's Sam. He mustn't get too much interested up
there. A little falling in love with an older woman doesn't hurt most
boys; in fact, it's part of their growing up and likely as not it does
'em good. But Sam's Sam isn't like most boys."

"That's so," said William King, "he may not be a genius and he
certainly isn't a criminal, but he has about as much stability as a
sky-rocket."




CHAPTER II


"You can't think of anybody who might like to take this little David
Allison, can you, my dear?" William King asked his wife at breakfast
the next morning.

"I certainly cannot," Martha said decidedly. "I think it's a very
dangerous thing to take unknown children into your family. I suppose
you think I ought to offer to do it? But in the first place, I'm very
tired, and in the second place, I don't like boys. If it was a girl it
might be different."

"No doubt we could find a girl," William began, but she interrupted
him.