ow me that
time he found us out in the fields at two o'clock in the morning? You
think up some way to make him accept some money, Betty."

Doctor Hal Guerin and his wife and daughters had been good friends to Bob
and Betty in the Bramble Farm days. The doctor, with a large country
practice that brought him more affection and esteem than ready cash, had
managed to look after the boy and girl more or less effectively, and
Norma, his daughter, had supplied Bob with orders from her school friends
for little carved pendants that he made with no better tools than an old
knife. This money had been the first Bob had ever earned and had given
him his first taste of independence.

"I don't think you could make Doctor Guerin take money, even as a
loan," said Betty slowly, in answer to Bob's proposal. "Norma wouldn't
like it if she thought her letter had suggested such a thing. What
makes it hard for them, I think, is that Mrs. Guerin expected to have
quite a fortune some day. Her mother was really wealthy, and she was an
only child. I don't know where the money went, but I do know the
Guerins never had any of it."

Bob jumped to his feet as she finished the sentence.

"Here's Uncle Dick!" he cried. "Did you see the new well come in, sir?"

CHAPTER III

SURPRISING BOB

Betty shook back her hair and rose to kiss the gray-haired gentleman who
put an arm affectionately about her.

"I heard about that blast," he said, and smiled good-humoredly. "Lee
Chang was much worried when I went in to dinner. His one consolation was
that you had eaten the tart before the oil began to fall."

"We were all right, only of course it rather daubed us up," said Bob.
"Betty had to wash her hair."

"My hair's nothing," declared Betty scornfully. "But my brand-new blouse
that I worked on for two days--you ought to see it, Uncle Dick! Grandma
Watterby thinks maybe she can get the oil out, but she says the color may
come out, too."

Mr. Gordon sat down on the step and took off his hat.

"You've a clear claim for damages, Betty," he assured his niece gravely.
"To save time, I'm willing to make good; what does a new blouse cost?"

"This wasn't exactly new," explained Betty fairly. "Aunt Faith had the
material in her trunk for years. But it was the first thing I ever made,
and I was so proud of it."

"Well, we'll see that you have something to take its place," promised her
uncle, drawing her down beside him. "I have some news for you, B