"Where is it?"

Cautiously creeping off the bed, Tabitha pressed her ear to the keyhole
to catch the rest of this interesting conversation, but as she listened,
her face paled and a rebellious look came into the expressive black
eyes.

So they were going to move away! Where would they go this time? It
seemed to her that moving was all they ever did. Not that she minded the
moving part of it--that was fun--but--. Here the tears came in earnest.
It was her dreadful name that she minded. It didn't make any difference
where they went, everyone made fun of her name, and folks no sooner got
used to seeing her odd little figure and hearing her still odder name
than they moved to some other town, and the same thing had to be lived
over. Oh, it was too bad!

All the hot afternoon father and aunt busied themselves in the adjoining
rooms, tearing open boxes, sorting, re-packing, and bundling things
around generally, until finally the noise became so great that only an
occasional word of the conversation could be heard by the little
listener at the keyhole. As the day waned, however, and the supper hour
approached, both workers ceased their pounding and went downstairs,
leaving Tabitha alone with her tearful reflections in the gathering
dusk. Here Tom found her, still huddled in a heap beside the door.

"Oh, Tom," she greeted him, "I thought you would never come. What made
you so late? Did you know Dad had come home again? Haven't you something
in your pocket to eat? I'm hungry as a wolf."

"Hush!" he said, slipping inside the door and closing it softly behind
him. "Dad would be awfully mad if he knew I was here. I just got home.
Had an errand across the pond after the store was closed. Here's a
biscuit and some cheese. Why aren't you in bed? Aunt Maria said Dad sent
you there at noon." As he spoke, the boy lifted the little sister to her
feet, brushed out her crumpled dress, smoothed back her tangled hair and
slipped the biscuit saved from his own supper into her eager hands.

"I did go to bed," mumbled Tabitha, with her mouth full of bread.

"You aren't undressed."

"Dad didn't say I had to undress, and he didn't say I had to _stay_ in
bed, either."

Tom grinned at her understanding of the law, but the darkness hid his
face, so his amusement was lost to the small sister eating so
ravenously.

"Did he lick you, Puss?"

"Nope. I thought he was going to, for he looked right mad, but I reckon
I was so mad it wouldn't h