only held her close to him, and
said, gently, "Yes, Marjorie darling, my own little girl," and the quiet
assurance of his tone seemed to content her.

"Wal, wal! an' who be you, sir?" exclaimed a gruff voice, and Mr.
Maynard looked up to see Zeb Geary approaching from the barn.

"You are Mr. Geary, I'm sure," said Cousin Jack, advancing; "we have
come for this little girl."

"Wal, I'm right down glad on't! I jest knew that purty child had a home
and friends, though she vowed she hadn't."

"And you've been kind to her, and we want to thank you! And this is Mrs.
Geary?"

"Yep, that's Sary. Come out here, Mother, and see what's goin' on."

Out of shyness, Mrs. Geary had watched proceedings from the kitchen
window, but fortified by her husband's presence, she appeared in the
doorway.

"They've been so good to me, Father," said Marjorie, still nestling in
his sheltering arms.

"Wal, we jest done what we could," said Mrs. Geary. "I knowed that
Jessiky belonged to fine people, but she didn't want to tell us nothin',
so we didn't pester her."

"And we ain't askin' nothin' from you, neither," spoke up Zeb. "She's a
sweet, purty child, an' as good as they make 'em. An' when she wants to
tell you all about it, she will. As fer us,--we've no call to know."

"Now, that's well said!" exclaimed Mr. Bryant, holding out his hand to
the old man. "And, for the present, we're going to take you at your
word. If you agree, we're going to take this little girl right off with
us, because her mother is anxiously awaiting news of her safety. And
perhaps, sometime later, we'll explain matters fully to you. Meantime, I
hope you'll permit us to leave with you a little expression of our
appreciation of your real kindness to our darling, and our gratitude at
her recovery."

A few whispered words passed between the two gentlemen, and then, after
a moment's manipulation of his fountain pen and checkbook, Mr. Bryant
handed to old Zeb Geary a slip of paper that took his breath away.

"I can't rightly thank you, sir," he said, brokenly; "I done no more'n
my duty; but if so be's you feel to give me this, I kin only say, Bless
ye fer yer goodness to them that has need!"

"That's all right, Mr. Geary," said Cousin Jack, touched by the old
man's emotion; "and now, Ed, let's be going."

Mrs. Geary brought Marjorie's hat and her little purse, and in another
moment they were flying along the country road toward Newark.

Marjorie said nothing a