belong to
her happy youth.

Penelope saw a tall lad in a carefully dressed Norfolk suit. He had a
long, thin, tanned face, with a thick mop of soft hair falling across
his forehead, a clear gaze and a flashing, wistful, fascinatingly sweet
smile as he repeated:

"Hello, Penelope!"

"Hello, Still Jim!" replied the girl, while her round cheeks showed
dimples that for a moment made Jim forget her eyes.

"Uncle Denny's been busy, I see," said Jim.

Then he was speechless. He had not reached the "girl stage" as yet.
Penelope was not disturbed. She continued to look Jim over, almost
unblinkingly. Then Jim, to his own astonishment, suddenly found his
tongue.

"I'm glad you've come," he said abruptly. "I'm going to think a lot of
you, I can see that."

He held out his hand and Penelope slipped her slender fingers into his
hard young fists. Jim did not let the little hand go for a minute. The
two looked at each other clearly.

"I'm glad I'm here," said Penelope. Then she dimpled. "And I'm glad
you're nice, because Uncle Denny told me that if I didn't like you I'd
show myself no judge of boys. When I giggled, I know he wanted to slap
me."

Jim's smile flashed and Penelope wondered what she liked best about it,
his white teeth, his merriness or his wistfulness.

"There's the dinner bell!" exclaimed Jim. "As Uncle Denny says, I'm so
hungry me soul is hanging by a string. Come on, Penelope."

Penelope entered Jim's life as simply and as easily as Saradokis did.

Sara charmed both Jim and Penelope. His physical beauty alone was a
thing to fascinate far harsher critics than these two who grew to be his
special friends. His hair was tawny and thick and wavy. His eyes were
black and bright. His mouth was small and perfectly cut. His cleft chin
was square and so was his powerful jaw. He carried himself like an
Indian and his strength was like that of the lover in Solomon's song.

Added to this was the romance of his grandfather. This story enthralled
little Pen, who at fourteen was almost bowled over by the thought that
some day Sara might be a duke.

Sara's keen mind, his commercial cleverness had a strong hold on Jim,
who lacked the money-making instinct. Jim quoted Sara a good deal at
first to Uncle Denny, whose usual comment was a grunt.

"Sara says it's a commercial age. If you don't get out and rustle money
you might as well get off the earth."

A grunt from Uncle Denny.

"Well, but Uncle Denny, you can't de