lissy
air a-doin' 'thout me."

But the sight smote the tears from his eyes when he stole around to the
window and glanced in at the little group, plainly shown in the flare
from the open fire.

Granny looked ten years older since morning. The three small boys,
instead of popping corn or roasting apples and sweet potatoes, as was
their habit in the evenings, sat in a dismal row, their chins on their
freckled, sunburned hands, and their elbows on their knees, and gazed
ruefully at the fire. And Melissy,--why, there was Melissy, a little
blue-and-white ball curled up on the floor. Asleep? No. Barney caught
the gleam of her wide-open blue eyes; but he missed something from
them,--the happy expression that used to dwell there.

He went at the door with a rush. And what an uproar there was when he
suddenly sprang in among them! Melissy laughed until she cried. Granny
whirled and whirled her stick, and nodded convulsively, and gasped out
eager questions about the trial and the "jedge." The little boys jumped
for joy until they seemed strung on wire.

Soon they were popping corn and roasting apples once more. The flames
roared up the chimney, and the shadows danced on the wall, and as the
hours wore on, they were all so happy that when midnight came, it caught
them still grouped around the fire.

A WARNING

It was night on Elm Ridge. So black, so black that the great crags and
chasms were hidden, the forest was lost in the encompassing gloom, the
valley and the distant ranges were gone,--all the world had disappeared.

There was no wind, and the dark clouds above the dark earth hung low and
motionless. Solomon Grow found it something of an undertaking to grope
his way back from the little hut of unhewn logs, where he had stabled
his father's horse, to the door of the cabin and the home-circle within.

He fumbled for the latchstring, and pulling it carelessly, the door flew
open suddenly, and he almost fell into the room.

"Why d' ye come a-bustin' in hyar that thar way, Sol?" his mother
demanded rather tartly. "Ef ye hed been raised 'mongst the foxes, ye
couldn't show less manners."

"Door slipped out'n my hand," said Sol, a trifle sullenly.

"Waal--air ye disabled anywhar so ez ye can't shet it, eh?" asked his
father, with a touch of sarcasm.

Sol shut the door, drew up an inverted tub, seated himself upon it, and
looked about, loweringly. He thought he had been needlessly affronted.
Still, he held his p