sensibilities had been shocked overmuch.

"Anna Belle, Anna Belle, has it come to this!" he murmured, picking
up the neglected one, who, with her usual elasticity and exuberance
of spirit, at once opened her eyes and beamed optimistically on her
rescuer. He set her, facing him, on his knee. "Such is youth!" he
sighed. "When she throws you down, I feel that I'm not going to be
so recuperative as you, Anna Belle. I have a plan, however, a plan of
self-defense; but if it weren't for your discretion, I shouldn't tell it
to you, for I'm an old bird, young lady, and can't be caught with chaff.
There are many worthy persons who may rise to lofty heights in eternity,
who nevertheless, meanwhile are not desirable to sit opposite a man at
his breakfast table. A visit, Anna Belle, a short visit from my daughter
Julia is all I shall ask for at first, and I shall test her, test her,
my dear. I'll look at her through a magnifying glass. Of course, if
they'd give me Jewel, it would be all I'd ask for; but they won't. That
is self-evident."

Here the child came around the corner of the house, leading her pet by a
halter, but with her hand in his mane as she pressed close to his side,
caressing and talking to him. In fact it was the harassing problem of
the pony's life to manage to avoid stepping on her. Zeke lounged in the
background on account equally of his orders and his inclination.

Star began cropping the grass, and Mr. Evringham continued his
disquisition to the bright-eyed young person on his knee:--

"My son Harry is turning out a pretty good sort, I fancy. I'm not
particularly shy of giving him a trial, provided he'll do the same by
me; but I suppose he will have to go West at first, anyway. Julia is a
different thing. I can't whistle her on and off with the same frankness;
and I must be careful, Anna Belle. Do you understand? Careful! And I'm
going to be, by Jove, in spite of the way it makes me cringe to think
of this big house, empty as a drum. It wasn't empty before, that's the
mischief of it. What has happened to me? I thought things were well
enough in those days. Nobody whom I knew was particularly happy. Why
should I be?"

The thrushes stopped, for Jewel's childish voice floated out on the
evening air.

Mr. Evringham knew what had happened. He knew that Zeke had asked her to
sing. They two were sitting on the ground, while the pony cropped away
at the sweet grass.

"From tired joy and grief afar,
An