g at present; furthermore, there may not
be anything for you to decide. We've no way of figgerin' what
your--your--relations mean to do. Just trust 'em a bit. They're Bob's
friends an' I guess we can count on 'em to act as is fair an' right."

"They _are_ Bob's friends, aren't they?" repeated the girl, her face
brightening as if the fact, hitherto forgotten, gave her confidence.

"And splendidly loyal friends too," the young man put in eagerly.

"Then I will trust them," she said. "It isn't as if they were
strangers."

How Robert Morton longed to go to her, to tell her in her sweet
dependence how eager he was for the day when no friend of his should be
a stranger to her; when their lives would be so closely intertwined
that every interest, every hope, every thought of his should be hers
also. Perhaps the unuttered wish that trembled on his lips was
reflected in his eyes, for after looking up at him she suddenly dropped
her lashes and, turning away, followed Tiny into the house.

"I've cautioned Celestina not to go talkin' to her any more just now,"
announced the little old man when she had gone. "Your aunt's an awful
good woman; no better lives. But there's times like today when things
don't strike her as they do me an' Delight. She's so fond of the girl
that her first thought would be for the money an' all that; but that
would be the last consideration in the world in Delight's mind. She's
awful loyal an' affectionate. Things go deep with her, an' she sets a
heap of store by the folks she cares for. Why, Zenas Henry is like her
own father. Since she was a wee tot she ain't known no other. While
this old lady, her grandmother--what is she? Why, she don't mean
nothin'--not a thing!"

They walked on toward the shop door, each occupied with his own
reveries; then suddenly Willie roused himself.

"Why, if here ain't Janoah!" he exclaimed.

"What you doin', Jan? Was you after somethin'? I reckon you found the
place pretty well deserted an' were wonderin' what had become of us
all."

"I warn't doin' no wonderin', Willie Spence," the man replied. "I
knowed where you'd gone 'cause I saw you ridin' away like a sheep bein'
led to the sacrifice."

"Like a what?" repeated the inventor with a grin.

"An innocent lamb, or a rat in a trap," Janoah said with solemn
emphasis.

"What are you drivin' at, anyhow?" questioned Willie.

"You didn't suspect nothin'?"

"Suspect anything? No, of course not. W