with open
rebellion. For some time they sat there, silent. Then Hope spoke, with
the evident design of changing the subject.

"Does anybody know about the new people on the corner?"

"Only what papa said, that it's a woman and her son. She's a widow, her
husband was killed in the Massawan bridge accident, and the son terribly
hurt."

"Have they come?"

"Yes, I saw them yesterday," Hubert said.

"What are they like?" Hope and Theodora asked in a breath.

"They were driving past the post-office, when I went after the noon
mail. They went by so fast I couldn't see much, though."

"How did you know who it was?" Theodora inquired, rolling over till she
could look up into her brother's face.

"Mr. Saunders asked me if I knew they were our new neighbors. They came
Tuesday, but they stayed at the hotel till yesterday morning, while the
house was being put in order."

"What did they look like?" Teddy demanded.

"Like all the rest of the world, as far as I could see."

"Stop teasing, Hu, and tell us," Hope urged.

"Really, I don't know much about them," Hubert returned, with an air of
lazy indifference. "Look out, Ted, you're tipping over Hope's basket.
One would think we'd never had any new neighbors before, from the way
you act."

"We haven't, for ages. Tell us, Hu, there's a dear, what are they like?"

"I honestly didn't have a chance to see them, Ted. She's tall and
pretty, and has a lot of fuzzy light red hair."

"Of course she was in mourning," Hope said.

"Yes, I suppose so. At least, she had a pile of black stuff hanging down
her back. I don't see why women should pin a black shawl over their
heads, when somebody dies; but then--"

"How old is the son?" Theodora interrupted.

"About our ages, I should say."

"Did he look ill?" Hope asked pitifully.

"No; only pale."

"What's the matter with him, anyway?" Theodora inquired, as she reached
out for her brother's hand and fell to playing with his slender brown
fingers.

"Papa told me he was jammed into a corner, with a lot of stuff on top of
him, and his back is hurt so he can't walk."

"Ugh!" Theodora wriggled. "How horrid! Won't he get over it?"

"Sometime; but it will take a good while."

"How did they happen to come here?" Hope said.

"They wanted to move into the country. Dr. Parker is their regular
doctor, and he advised them to try papa, so they came here to be near
him. Papa told me, on the way to the station, the day he went. He had