the shanty. Dark curtains were hung at the square little
windows, for it was quite a daily occurrence for Sandy Letts to peek
through them before entering the door. Tessibel didn't wish to shut out
the sunshine and moonbeams, but then there was Andy Bishop to think of,
and Andy already had a warmer place in the squatter girl's heart than
even the sun or moon. Tessibel was beginning to love him, not only
because he'd been a friend to Daddy, but on his own account, because he
was a soul in torment and needed her.

It took quite three hours to arrange the garret for the dwarf's
occupancy. There were many pieces of fishing tackle to be sorted and
hung in the kitchen rafters. The nuts that had been spread out on the
floor to dry, now had to be gathered in sacks and stored in the mud
cellar. The cobwebs must come down, and a cotton tick filled with new,
fresh straw to be put in the garret. It was about three o'clock when
Tessibel ushered the little man up the ladder and displayed the clean
attic.

"'Tain't high 'nough fer me to stand up in," she told him, "but ye'll
get along all right, an' I air goin' to fix ye somethin' so ye can see
to read.... Can ye read?"

"Sure, I can read." Andy's voice rang with pride. "My ma, she's dead
now, she learned me how, she did!"

"Then I'll get ye lots of books," replied Tess, "an' ye'd best always
keep hid less'n I let ye down, 'cause Sandy might catch onto yer bein'
here. Waldstricker's money'll set loose a lot of sneaks like him lookin'
fer ye!"

Late that afternoon the dwarf ate his first meal in the garret, and
Tessibel and Orn Skinner ate theirs at the table, but the conversation
of the father and daughter intermingled now and then with a soft
statement or a question from above, and there was happiness in the
Skinner hut.

As soon as they finished supper, Tess went to the foot of the ladder and
called softly.

"I air goin' to tell ye somethin', Andy,--ye listenin'?"

"Yep, brat. Sure, I air listenin'."

"I air a goin' somewheres to find out somethin'," announced the girl
mysteriously. "Mebbe when I get back I'll tell ye what ye'll like to
hear.... Ye'll stay hid, won't ye?"

"Sure so," agreed Andy.

After bending to kiss her father affectionately, the girl said to him,

"Now, Daddy, I air goin' out a little while, an' you two be awful
careful how loud ye talk.... Somebody might hear ye!"

And for a short moment after the girl had gone there was silence in the
shack.