laughed. "I am afraid my wants would have to be
moderate, there is so little left to buy," he said, wondering if it
were poverty on the part of the Radfords which kept the stock so
low.

"We are not so nearly cleared out as you would think," Miles
answered, in a confidential tone. "We always like the shelves to
look thin at this time of the year; then when the first shipment
comes to hand we bring all our surplus stock out of the cellar, and
it sells nearly as fast as we can serve it out."

"Well, that is one way of doing business; a shrewd way too,"
remarked Mr. Selincourt, nodding his head. "I shouldn't wonder if
you make a pile some day of your own; you look wideawake enough.
What are you going to be when you grow up?"

"A storekeeper; this store keeper, if Katherine can keep the
business going until I'm old enough to take the work over," Miles
answered, with the same promptness as had arrested Mr. Selincourt's
attention at the first.

"It is a hard life for a girl, I should think," he said, as he sat
down on a sugar barrel and watched Miles finishing with the traps.

"Yes, it is very hard. You see, there is so much tramping over
portages, rowing up and down river, and all that sort of thing. I
could manage most of it with Phil's help, only there is pricing the
skins, the feathers, and the fish which we take in barter from the
Indians. They wouldn't accept my prices, but would declare they
were being cheated by the papoose;" and the boy threw so much scorn
into his tone that Mr. Selincourt laughed aloud.

"How do you manage when the Indians come here to buy and your
sister is away?" he asked.

"Oh, I just call Nellie, that is Mrs. Burton, you know! She
doesn't know a thing about business, and is ignorant as a baby
about the value of skins, but she is grown-up, so they believe what
she says, only I have to tell her first."

"Your father can't attend to anything, then?" Mr. Selincourt
enquired pitifully. He had heard a little of 'Duke Radford's
affliction, and sympathized keenly with the children who had such a
heavy weight of responsibility to carry.

Miles shook his head. "Since his stroke, Father has not been able
to do anything at all. His memory is entirely gone, yet he is so
pleased to see people, and he always seems happy and content. Have
you time to go and talk to him for a little while, sir? He would
like to see you, I know."

Mr. Selincourt rose from his barrel with alacrity. "Oh,