" whispered all the locusts, waving their hands to each other
excitedly. "Look! The master has his own again. The dear old times are
coming back to us."

"How the trees blow!" exclaimed the child, looking up at the green arch
overhead. "See! They's all a-noddin' to each othah." "We'll have to get
my shoes an' 'tockin's," she said, presently, when they were nearly
home. "They're in that fence cawnah behin' a log."

The Colonel obediently got down and handed them to her. As he mounted
again he saw a carriage coming toward them. He recognized one of his
nearest neighbours. Striking the astonished Maggie Boy with his spur,
he turned her across the railroad track, down the steep embankment, and
into an unfrequented lane.

"This road is just back of your garden," he said. "Can you get through
the fence if I take you there?"

"That's the way we came out," was the answer. "See that hole where the
palin's are off?"

Just as he was about to lift her down, she put one arm around his neck,
and kissed him softly on the cheek. "Good-bye, gran'fatha'," she said,
in her most winning way. "I've had a mighty nice time." Then she added,
in a lower tone, "'Kuse me fo' throwin' mud on yo' coat."

He held her close a moment, thinking nothing had ever before been half
so sweet as the way she called him grandfather.

From that moment his heart went out to her as it had to little Tom and
Elizabeth. It made no difference if her mother had forfeited his love.
It made no difference if Jack Sherman was her father, and that the two
men heartily hated each other.

It was his own little grandchild he held in his arms.

She had sealed the relationship with a trusting kiss.

"Child," he said, huskily, "you will come and see me again, won't you,
no matter if they do tell you not to? You shall have all the flowers and
berries you want, and you can ride Maggie Boy as often as you please."

She looked up into his face. It was very familiar to her. She had looked
at his portrait often, unconsciously recognizing a kindred spirit that
she longed to know.

Her ideas of grandfathers, gained from stories and observation, led her
to class them with fairy godmothers. She had always wished for one.

The day they moved to Lloydsborough, Locust had been pointed out to her
as her grandfather's home. From that time on she slipped away with
Fritz on every possible occasion to peer through the gate, hoping for a
glimpse of him.

"Yes, I'll come suah!" she