please in your new home. You are now among republicans, you know, and we
are scarcely conscious of any government."

"But I have already discovered one very strong law in this household,"
she smilingly asserted, as she stood beside him near the hall-table, on
which he had placed his powder-flask and shot-pouch.

"Ah, what is that?" he asked, pouring the powder carefully into the
muzzles of the gun.

"The law of kindness, of good-will. Why," she exclaimed, "I expected to
be weeks in getting acquainted, but here you are all calling me sister
Amy as if it were the most natural thing in the world. It seems so odd,"
she laughed, "that I am not a bit afraid of you, even with your gun, and
yet we have just met, as it were. The way you and your brothers say
'sister Amy' makes the relation seem real. I can scarcely believe that I
am the same girl that stepped down at the station this evening, nor can I
get over my pleased wonder at the transformation."

"Amy," said the young man, earnestly, "your coming promises so much to us
all! You were just the one element lacking in our home. I now see that it
was so. I already have the presentiment that you will do more for us than
we can for you."

"I ought to do all that the deepest gratitude could prompt. You have
never known what it is to be desolate one hour, and to find an ideal home
the next."

"I wish it might be an ideal home to you; but don't expect too much. You
will find some of us very human."