s all."

"Does her grandfather's influence seem to be evil, then?" asked the
Colonel.

"He has surrounded her with privations, if not with actual want," said
she. "Only the night before last he was in such a violent rage that he
tried to smash everything in the house. That is surely an evil example
to set before the child, who has a temper of her own, perhaps inherited
from him. He has, however, bought her a new dress--the first one she
has had in more than a year--so perhaps the old man at times relents
toward his granddaughter and tries to atone for his shortcomings."

Gran'pa Jim was thoughtful for a time.

"Perhaps," he presently remarked, "Mr. Cragg has but little money to
buy dresses with. I do not imagine that a man so well educated as you
report him to be would prefer to live in a hovel, if he could afford
anything better."

"If he is now poor, what has he done with all his money?" demanded Mary
Louise.

"That is a part of the mystery, isn't it? Do you know, my dear, I can't
help having a kindly thought for this poor man; perhaps because he is a
grandfather and has a granddaughter--just as I have."

"He doesn't treat her in the same way, Gran'pa Jim," said she, with a
loving look toward the handsome old Colonel.

"And there is a perceptible difference between Ingua and Mary Louise,"
he added with a smile.

They were to have Ingua's dress fitted by Miss Huckins that morning,
and as Josie was fast asleep Mary Louise went across to the cottage to
go with the girl on her errand. To her surprise she found old Mr. Cragg
sitting upon his little front porch, quite motionless and with his arms
folded across his chest. He stared straight ahead and was evidently in
deep thought. This was odd, because he was usually at his office an
hour or more before this time.

Mary Louise hesitated whether to advance or retreat. She had never as
yet come into personal contact with Ingua's grandfather and, suspecting
him of many crimes, she shrank from meeting him now. But she was
herself in plain sight before she discovered his presence and it would
be fully as embarrassing to run away as to face him boldly. Moreover,
through the open doorway she could see Ingua passing back and forth in
the kitchen, engaged in her customary housework. So on she came.

Mr. Cragg had not seemed to observe her, at first, but as she now
approached the porch he rose from his chair and bowed with a courtly
grace that astonished her. In many way