, comment. So I am going to take him."

"Any grandfather would want to," said Lydia Sampson.

Mr. Smith raised his bushy eyebrows. "Well, we won't put it on that
ground. But I like the boy, though I hear he gets into fights; I'm
afraid he has the devil of a temper," said Mr. Smith, chuckling proudly.
"But I've watched him, and he's no coward and no fool, either. In fact,
I hear that he is a wonder mathematically. God knows where he got his
brains! Well, I am going to adopt him. But that will make no difference
in your income. That is assured to you as long as you live. I am
indebted to you, Miss Sampson. Profoundly indebted."

"Not at all," said Miss Lydia.

"I shall have a governess for him," said Mr. Smith; "but I hope you will
not be too much occupied"--his voice was very genial, and as he spoke he
bore down hard on his cane and began to struggle to his feet--"not too
much occupied to keep a friendly eye upon him." He was standing now, a
rather Jove-like figure, before whom Miss Lydia looked really like a
little brown grasshopper. "Yes, I trust you will not lose your interest
in him," he ended.

"I won't," she said, faintly.

"I have made all the arrangements," said Johnny's grandfather. "I simply
told--ah, the people who know about him, that I was going to take him."
He was standing, switching his cane behind him; it hit an encroaching
table leg and he apologized profusely. "Mary was badly scared. As if I
could not manage a thing like that! I like to scare--him"--the new Mr.
Smith lifted his upper lip, and his teeth gleamed--"but, of course, I
told her not to worry. Well, I hope you will see him frequently."

"I shall," said Miss Lydia.

"Of course you and I must tell the same story as to his antecedents. So
if you will let me know how you have accounted for him, I'll be a very
good parrot!"

"I haven't told any stories. I just let people call him Smith, and I
just said--to Johnny, and everybody--that I was a friend of his
mother's. That's true, you know."

"It is true, madam; it is, indeed!" said Mary's father. He bowed with
grave courtliness. "There was never a better friend than you, Miss
Sampson."

"I've been very careful not to tell anything that wasn't true," said
Miss Lydia. "I told Johnny his father and mother had lived out West;
they did, you know, for four months. Johnny began to ask questions when
he was only five; he said he wished _he_ had a mother like other little
boys. I had to tell him