t him, and his face
grew deep red with pleasure.

"He was bringin' me to see where you was livin'," explained Mom Wallis,
suddenly, nodding toward Gardley as if he had been a king. "We wasn't
hopin' to see you, except mebbe just as you come by goin' in."

"Oh, then I'm so glad I caught up with you in time. I wouldn't have
missed you for anything. I went back to look for you. Now you're coming
in to dinner with me, both of you," declared Margaret, joyfully.
"William, your mother will have enough dinner for us all, won't she?"

"Sure!" said Bud, with that assurance born of his life acquaintance with
his mother, who had never failed him in a trying situation so far as
things to eat were concerned.

Margaret looked happily from one of her invited guests to the other, and
Gardley forgot to answer for himself in watching the brightness of her
face, and wondering why it was so different from the faces of all other
girls he knew anywhere.

But Mom Wallis was overwhelmed. A wave of red rolled dully up from her
withered neck in its gala collar over her leathery face to the roots of
her thin, gray hair.

"Me! Stay to dinner! Oh, I couldn't do that nohow! Not in these here
clo'es. 'Course I got that pretty collar you give me, but I couldn't
never go out to dinner in this old dress an' these shoes. I know what
folks ought to look like an' I ain't goin' to shame you."

"Shame me? Nonsense! Your dress is all right, and who is going to see
your shoes? Besides, I've just set my heart on it. I want to take you up
to my room and show you the pictures of my father and mother and home
and the church where I was christened, and everything."

Mom Wallis looked at her with wistful eyes, but still shook her head.
"Oh, I'd like to mighty well. It's good of you to ast me. But I
couldn't. I just couldn't. 'Sides, I gotta go home an' git the men's
grub ready."

"Oh, can't she stay this time, Mr. Gardley?" appealed Margaret. "The men
won't mind for once, will they?"

Gardley looked into her true eyes and saw she really meant the
invitation. He turned to the withered old woman by his side. "Mom, we're
going to stay," he declared, joyously. "She wants us, and we have to do
whatever she says. The men will rub along. They all know how to cook.
Mom, _we're going to stay_."

"That's beautiful!" declared Margaret. "It's so nice to have some
company of my own." Then her face suddenly sobered. "Mr. Wallis won't
mind, will he?" And she looked wi