when I first came
"into my kingdom,"--and answered:--

"Lookin' up a girl! Why, I s'posed yer knew that. I dunno 'zackly. Jim
says all the fellers does. He says he hates to git the feed an' wash the
dishes orfly, 'nd girls likes ter do it best of anything."

"Oh!" cried I, light bursting in upon my darkened intellect when
dish-washing was mentioned; "he wants to get married!"

"Well, he has ter look up a girl first, don't yer s'pose?"

"Yes, of course; but I don't see how Jim can get money enough to take
care of a wife. He only has thirty dollars a month."

"Well, he's goin' ter get a girl what'll 'go halveys,' don't yer know,
and pay for her keep. He'd ruther have a 'millingnary' girl--they're the
nicest; but if he can't, he's goin' to try for one out of the box
factory."

"Oh, Patsy! I wish"--

"Why, didn't I ought ter say that?"

"I wish you had a mother, dear."

"If I had, I'd know more 'n I do now," and a great sigh heaved itself
upward from beneath the blue jacket.

"No, you wouldn't know so much, Patsy, or at least you would get the
right end first. Never mind, dear boy, you can't understand."

"Jim says Mis' Kennett 'nd I needn't set such store by you, 'cause the
fust chance you gits you'll git married." (I always did have an elective
antipathy for Jim.) "Shall yer, Miss Kate?"

"Why, dear, I think we are very happy as we are, don't you?"

"Yes, ef I could only stay f'rever, 'nd not go ter the reel school. Jim
says I ought ter be gittin' book learnin' pretty soon."

"Did you tell him that Miss Helen was teaching you to read and write a
little while every afternoon?"

"Yes, I told him. He liked it fust rate. Mis' Kennett said she'd let her
childern stay f'rever with yer, ef they never larned a thing, 'nd so
would I, dear, dear Miss Kate! Oh, I bet God would like to see you in
that pretty blue dress!" and he hung over me with a speechless caress;
his first, and last indeed, for he was shy and reticent in emotion, and
never once showed his affection in the presence of the other children.

[Illustration: PAULINA'S "GOOD-MORNINGS TO JOHNNY CASS."]

CHAPTER VII.

PATSY FINDS HIS THREE LOST YEARS.

"Now God be thanked for years enwrought
With love which softens yet.
Now God he thanked for every thought
Which is so tender it has caught
Earth's guerdon of regret."

Well, Jim did not succeed in finding his girl, although he "looked"
industriously. Either the "mill