consumption shortly."

Joy, coming slowly over the grass on an errand from her grandfather,
kept her eyes on the ground, because that way it was easier to
remember the message she had to repeat up and down the rows of
cottages dotted among the trees. So it was not until she was quite
close that she knew Phyllis again.

Philip barked her a cheerful greeting, and Phyllis rose to greet her.

"I am Alton Havenith's granddaughter," Joy began, and then
interrupted herself joyfully.

"Oh, it's my lady in green!" she cried. "You didn't see me when you
came back."

"I looked for you," Phyllis explained, holding out both hands in
welcome, "but it was too dark to see you. I thought you had gone
home. Did you say you were Alton Havenith's granddaughter? I love
his poems. I'm Phyllis Harrington, and this is my husband. I'm
eternally grateful to you for helping me find my little boy. You see
I've made sure he won't escape again."

"He isn't chained for life, as you might infer from that," Allan
explained.

Philip ceased being a dog for the moment, and held his hand out
amiably to Joy.

"I'm Philip," he explained, following his mother's example and