re a pink blouse and
was smiling.

"I'll bring him some stew over there, Ma," she suggested. "The
children have mussed up the table pretty well, and they'd take his
appetite away with their eyes. Can't you stand back a bit?" she
demanded of the four children, three little boys and a girl, who stood
in a ring about Sunny Boy and their mother, gazing fixedly at the
stranger.

"I'll eat first, I guess," decided Timmie. "I didn't get me a crumb of
lunch, and after I've told his folks he's safe they'll be wanting to
see him the next minute. Just give me a taste of the stew on some
bread, Theresa."

Theresa had already taken her mother a plate for Sunny, and now she
gave her brother his supper. The stew was hot and really delicious,
and Sunny Boy was sure he had never tasted anything so good. Mrs.
Harrity held the plate for him and patted him now and then as he ate.
The Harrity children edged nearer and nearer, till a frown from their
mother drove them back.

"Going now," announced Tim, seizing his cap.

He slammed the door with such force that the plates on the table
rattled, but no one seemed to mind it. They could hear him cheerfully
whistling as he clattered downstairs.

Theresa put some water on to heat for the dishes, and came over near
her mother and Sunny Boy. She took the little girl on her lap.

"Timmie will help you all right," she assured Sunny Boy, nodding and
smiling at him encouragingly. "Tim's a great lad for seeing things
through. How did he come to find you?"

Sunny Boy explained.

"Well, well," said Mrs. Harrity. "If you're not used to it, the
subway's built for confusin' ye. But Marty there, he's seven next
birthday, he can get about as well as the next one."

Marty grinned and wriggled uneasily.

"I'm five," said Sunny Boy conversationally.

"Five now, well, well," repeated Mrs. Harrity. "Rose over there is
five. Jim's eight and Thomas, he that's licking the gravy spoon, is
nine. An' a fine, noisy bunch they do be. The kettle is boilin',
Theresa."

Theresa put her little sister down, and rolling back the sleeves of
her pink waist, began to gather up the dishes. Thomas had to be made
to give up the gravy spoon, which he was apparently enjoying very
much.

Theresa had just poured the water over the dishes in the pan and was
folding up the tablecloth, when the noise of some one falling upstairs
startled them.

"That's Timmie," declared Mrs. Harrity excitedly. "The boy's in such a
hurry