inting to the slender
crescent in the autumn sky.

"I'se feared to, honey," answered Maria, "less I should see it through
the trees. That 'ud bring me bad luck for a month, suah. I'll go out on
the lawn where it's open, an' look at it ovah my right shouldah."

While they were walking backward down the path, intent on reaching a
place where they could have an uninterrupted view of the moon, Fritz
sneaked around to the other end of the porch.

No one was watching. He slipped into the house as noiselessly as his
four soft feet could carry him.

Maria, going through the dark upper hall, with a candle held high above
her head and Lloyd clinging to her skirts, did not see a tasselled tail
swinging along in front of her. It disappeared under the big bed when
she led Lloyd into the room next the old Colonel's.

The child felt very sober while she was being put to bed.

The furniture was heavy and dark. An ugly portrait of a cross old man in
a wig frowned at her from over the mantel. The dancing firelight made
his eyes frightfully lifelike.

The bed was so high she had to climb on a chair to get in. She heard
Maria's heavy feet go shuffling down the stairs. A door banged. Then it
was so still she could hear the clock tick in the next room.

It was the first time in all her life that her mother had not come to
kiss her good night. Her lips quivered, and a big tear rolled down on
the pillow.

She reached out to the chair beside her bed, where her clothes were
hanging, and felt in her apron pocket for the little glove. She sat up
in bed, and looked at it in the dim firelight. Then she held it against
her face. "Oh, I want my mothah! I want my mothah!" she sobbed, in a
heart-broken whisper.

Laying her head on her knees, she began to cry quietly, but with great
sobs that nearly choked her.

There was a rustling under the bed. She lifted her wet face in alarm.
Then she smiled through her tears, for there was Fritz, her own dear
dog, and not an unknown horror waiting to grab her.

He stood on his hind legs, eagerly trying to lap away her tears with his
friendly red tongue.

She clasped him in her arms with an ecstatic hug. "Oh, you're such a
comfort!" she whispered. "I can go to sleep now."

She spread her apron on the bed, and motioned him to jump. With one
spring he was beside her.

It was nearly midnight when the door from the Colonel's room was
noiselessly opened.

The old man stirred the fire gently until it