's action in frightening him.
It was what he had said about the Poor House, and his father and mother
which worried him. "What did he mean?" he asked himself over and over
again. Why did he say that I should go to the Poor House instead of
living with decent people, and that I wouldn't own my parents if I knew
them? His brain grew hot as he brooded over these words. Other
children had their fathers and mothers with them, and why was it that
he had never seen his, and knew nothing about them? Mrs. Royal had
told him that his mother was living, and several times she had read her
letters to him. But she was a vague person, one he had never seen, and
in whom he had no special interest. The Royals, and the people he knew
in Hillcrest were of more importance to him than his own mother. But
now a desire entered his soul to know something about his parents.
Were they bad people? he asked himself. Why did they not come to see
him? Were they ashamed to do so? he wondered, and was that what Tom
meant?

As noon approached, Rod began to feel hungry. He had eaten very little
breakfast, as he had been too much interested in a new family of
kittens which had been discovered in the barn. The other scholars who
had come some distance would have their dinner, and he could not bear
the thought of seeing them eating when he was so hungry. He,
therefore, planned to spend the hour by himself down by the river.

As the children flocked out of school, Rod moved with them. But the
teacher stopped him, and handed to him a small parcel, neatly tied.

"What's that?" Rod asked, much surprised.

"I do not know," was the reply. "Some one left it here this morning."

Then Rod remembered that he had heard a knock, and the teacher had gone
to the door, returning shortly with something in her hand. He had not
seen the visitor, and so had soon forgotten all about the incident.

Going back to his scat, he untied the string, and unwrapped the brown
paper. Then great was his surprise to find a dainty lunch lying
within. There were several slices of choice home-made bread, two
pieces of cake, a large wedge of pumpkin-pie, and a fine rosy apple.

For a few moments Rod sat staring at the feast before him. Who could
have sent it? he wondered, Then all at once he remembered. It was the
apple which solved the problem, and he knew that there was only one
tree in the neighbourhood which produced such fruit as that. He had
often seen the tr