to be kindly spoken to by elegant ladies, to be
patronizingly smiled upon, to be graciously presented with gifts.

But this was different. This one took the little Hodge girl right up
in her lap while she was telling them stories. This one did not pick
out the pretty ones to talk to, as strangers generally did. It really
seemed that the most neglected and unattractive of them received the
most of her attention.

From time to time she glanced across at Robin's lovely face, and
contrasted it with the others. The older boy attracted her still more.
He seemed to be the only thoughtful one among them all. The others
remembered no past, looked forward to no future. When they were hungry
there was something to eat. When they were tired they could sleep, and
all the rest of the time there was somebody to play with. What more
could one want?

The child never stirred from his place, but she noticed that he made a
constant effort to entertain Robin. He told him stories and invented
little games. When the bundle came flying in through the window he
opened it with eager curiosity.

Grace had hurried into the village store as soon as the train stopped
and had bought the first toy she happened to see. It was a black
dancing bear, worked by a tiny crank hidden under the bar on which it
stood. Robin's pleasure was unbounded, and his shrieks of delight
brought all the children flocking around him.

"More dancin', Big Brother," he would insist, when the animal paused.
"Robin wants to see more dancin'."

So patient little "Big Brother" kept on turning the crank, long after
every one save Robin was tired of the black bear's antics.

Once she saw the restless 'Enry trying to entice him into a game of
tag in the aisle. Big Brother shook his head, and the fat little legs
clambered up on the seat again. Robin watched Mrs. Estel with such
longing eyes as she entertained the others that she beckoned to him
several times to join them, but he only bobbed his curls gravely and
leaned farther back in his seat.

Presently the man strolled down the aisle again to close a window, out
of which one fidgety boy kept leaning to spit at the flying telegraph
poles. On his way back Mrs. Estel stopped him.

"Will you please tell me about those two children?" she asked,
glancing towards Robin and his brother. "I am very much interested in
them, and would gladly do something for them, if I could."

"Certainly, madam," he replied deferentially. He fel