mother, I know."

"Oh if I only could, Tode! I'd work _ever_ so hard," said Nan,
earnestly.

"You stay here an' I'll see 'f I can find him," said the boy. Then he
turned back to add suspiciously, "Now don't ye clear out while I'm
gone."

Nan looked at him wonderingly.

"Where would I go?" she questioned, and Tode answered with a laugh,

"That a fact--ye ain't got no place to go, have ye?"

Then he disappeared and Nan waited anxiously for his return. He came
back within an hour bringing with him a freckle-faced boy a year or so
older than himself.

"This's the gal!" he remarked, briefly.

The newcomer looked doubtfully at Nan.

"See the little feller," cried Tode, eagerly. "Ain't he a daisy? See
him laugh," and he chucked the baby clumsily under the chin.

The child's heavy eyes brightened and he smiled back into the
friendly, dirty face of the boy.

The other boy looked at Tode wonderingly. "Didn't know 't you liked