nly as being interested in the wax-work business," replied Wyn, with
twinkling eyes.

"I--I guess father never made wax-work," said Polly, hesitatingly.

She was an innocent sort of girl, who evidently lacked many advantages
of education and reading that Wyn and her friends had enjoyed as a
matter of course.

"Well, I never heard the name before to-day--not _your_ name, nor
your father's," Wyn said.

"Well, we used to live here."

"In Denton?"

"Yes, ma'am----"

"Will you stop that?" cried Wyn. "I am Wyn Mallory, I tell you."

"All right, Wyn. It's a pretty name. I'll be glad to use it," returned
Polly.

"Prove it by using it altogether," commanded Wyn. "Now, what about your
father?"

"I--I can't tell you much about it--much of the particulars, I mean,"
said the girl from Lake Honotonka, diffidently. "I don't really know
them. Father never speaks of it much. But even as a tiny girl mother
explained to me that when folks said father had done wrong I must deny
it. That it was not so. It was only circumstances that made him appear
in the wrong. And--you know, Wyn--your mother wouldn't lie to you!"

"Of course not!" cried Wyn, warmly. "Of course not!"

"Well, then, you'll have to believe just what I tell you. Father was in
some business deal with a man here in Denton, and something went wrong.
The other man accused father of being dishonest. Father could not defend
himself. Circumstances were dead against him. And it worried mother so
that it made her sick.

"So we all left town. Father had very little money, and he built a shack
up there in the woods near Honotonka. We're just 'squatters' up there.
But gradually father got a few boats, and built a float, and made enough
in the summer from fishermen and campers to support us. Of course,
mother being sick so many years before she died, kept us very poor. I
only go to the district school winters. Then I have to walk four miles
each way, for we own no horse. Summers I help father with the boats."

"That's where you got such palms! cried Wyn, touching her new friend's
calloused hands again.

"It's rowing does it. But I don't mind. I love the water, you see."

"So do I. I've got a canoe. I'm captain of a girls' canoe club."

"That's nice," said Polly. "I suppose when you take up boating for just
a sport it's lots better than trying to make one's living out of it."

"Well, tell me more," urged Wyn. "What are you in town for now? Why did
I find you crying he