g's body and tickled him knowingly; the little
fellow grinned widely and barked. Caroline sighed.

"It must be grand," she said wistfully, "to walk from one town to
another, that way. Where do you sleep?"

"In barns, sometimes, and there's lots of covered wagons all around
the farm-houses, outside the towns, you know. A church shed's as
good a place as any. I don't like the towns as big as this, though;
I like the country this time o' year."

Caroline nodded comprehendingly, breathing deep breaths of the
fresh, earth-scented air.

"I wish there never were any houses in the world--nor any schools,
either!" she cried.

He smiled. "I never was much for schools, myself," he said. "They
don't smell good."

Caroline looked at him solemnly. She felt that the resolution of her
life was taken. In one ecstatic flash she beheld her future.

"I shall never go to school again," she announced. "I shall--" A
wave of joyous possibility broke over her, but modesty tied her
tongue.

"Could I--would you--I'm a real good walker!" she burst out, and
blushed furiously. Who was she to associate with a dog like William
Thayer?

The young man looked curiously at her. A kind of anxiety clouded his
frank gray eyes. "Oh, you mustn't talk like that," he urged, laying
one brown hand on her apron. "That wouldn't do for a young lady like
you. I guess you better go to school. Girls, you know!"

He waited a moment, but she scowled silently. He began again:

"I guess it's different with girls, anyway. You see, you have to get
your education. A young lady----"

"I'm not a young lady," snapped Caroline. "I'm only ten 'n' a
quarter!"

"Well, anyway, it isn't respectable," he argued hastily. Caroline
opened her eyes wide at him.

"Aren't _you_ respectable?" she demanded, appraising unconsciously
his clothes, which were, if not fine, at least clean and whole, his
flannel shirt finished with a neat blue tie, his shoes no dustier
than the country roads accounted for.

He flushed under his thick freckles, and plucked at the grass
nervously.

"N-n--yes, I _am_!" he shouted defiantly. "I know lots of people
don't think so, but I am! We earn our way, William Thayer an' me,
an' we don't want much. I don't see as we do any harm. It don't take
much to live, anyhow; it's coal-scuttles an' lookin'-glasses
an'--an' carpets that cost money. And if you don't want _them_--oh,
what's the use talking? I never could live all tied up."

"Caroline! Carol