ess; but in a moment there came a dramatic
sound indicative of collapse, and immediately there arose cries of
dismay. He turned an intervening corner and came upon the newly-arrived
guest quite prone upon the floor with his three little girls scuffling in
delighted agitation over her inert body.

He hesitated to interrupt the game, but in an instant Betty the youngest
had spied him and uttered a shrill cry of welcome. The heap upon the
floor swiftly resolved itself into four separate beings, and the newcomer
sprang up with the litheness of a squirrel and met him with a free grace
that was not without a suggestion of defiance.

He held out his hand to her. He understood the defiance and replied to it
with characteristic directness.

"Guess you thought me a rough sort of animal when we met in the paddock
this afternoon," he said. "I'm sorry. It was Bunny I was up against--not
you."

"Not me?" said Toby, her wide eyes lifted quite openly to his. "Sure?"

He pinched the slim young hand without ceremony. Somehow she took him by
storm--this girl with the open brow and curiously pathetic face. "Well,
not so much you," he said. "Bunny knows that gambling on a big scale is
against the law for children of his age."

"Oh, I see," said Toby. She smiled and slipped her hand free. "Well, I'm
years older than he is, so that doesn't apply to me. Bunny wasn't doing
any gambling either."

"I gathered that," said Jake.

She stopped and lifted Molly the second child, partially veiling her own
face with the little girl's soft curls. "Then you are up against me," she
said.

"No, I'm not," Jake's voice held a queer, compassionate note. "We won't
quarrel till we know each other better anyway. I see you're pretty
intimate with the youngsters already."

"Oh, that's easy, isn't it?" said Toby. "Babies always take you at your
face value. They are never prejudiced beforehand. There's never any
handicap of that sort with babies."

Betty was clamouring at her knees. She bent and lifted her also, bracing
her slight form to a double burden of which Jake instantly relieved her,
gathering both children into his own strong arms.

"You're not to do that ever again," he said, with the authority of the
man accustomed to obedience. "Understand?"

"Why not?" said Toby.

He turned to carry the two babies to the nursery. "Because I say it," he
said briefly.

"Oh, but that's no reason," said Toby, with light assurance.

Eileen at her side loo