o be thinking about him at all. She would not think about him. If
he came, well and good. It would only be courteous of him to make a
farewell call at Ingleside where he had often been a guest. If he did
not come--well and good, too. It did not matter very much. Nobody was
going to fret. That was all settled comfortably--she was quite
indifferent--but meanwhile Jims was being fed with a haste and
recklessness that would have filled the soul of Morgan with horror.
Jims himself didn't like it, being a methodical baby, accustomed to
swallowing spoonfuls with a decent interval for breath between each. He
protested, but his protests availed him nothing. Rilla, as far as the
care and feeding of infants was concerned, was utterly demoralized.

Then the telephone-bell rang. There was nothing unusual about the
telephone ringing. It rang on an average every ten minutes at
Ingleside. But Rilla dropped Jims' spoon again--on the carpet this
time--and flew to the 'phone as if life depended on her getting there
before anybody else. Jims, his patience exhausted, lifted up his voice
and wept.

"Hello, is this Ingleside?"

"Yes."

"That you, Rilla?" "Yeth--yeth." Oh, why couldn't Jims stop howling for
just one little minute? Why didn't somebody come in and choke him?

"Know who's speaking?"

Oh, didn't she know! Wouldn't she know that voice anywhere--at any time?

"It's Ken--isn't it?"

"Sure thing. I'm here for a look-in. Can I come up to Ingleside tonight
and see you?"

"Of courthe."

Had he used "you" in the singular or plural sense? Presently she would
wring Jims' neck--oh, what was Ken saying?

"See here, Rilla, can you arrange that there won't be more than a few
dozen people round? Understand? I can't make my meaning clearer over
this bally rural line. There are a dozen receivers down."

Did she understand! Yes, she understood.

"I'll try," she said.

"I'll be up about eight then. By-by."

Rilla hung up the 'phone and flew to Jims. But she did not wring that
injured infant's neck. Instead she snatched him bodily out of his
chair, crushed him against her face, kissed him rapturously on his
milky mouth, and danced wildly around the room with him in her arms.
After this Jims was relieved to find that she returned to sanity, gave
him the rest of his dinner properly, and tucked him away for his
afternoon nap with the little lullaby he loved best of all. She sewed
at Red Cross shirts for the rest of the afternoon and