this time, soon after Billy had begun to rally from
the mysterious strain to his back, Mrs. Farrington had appeared in the
doctor's office, one evening.

"As usual, I am asking a favor," she said. "At last, I have succeeded in
getting a really good tutor for Billy. The man was instructor in Yale
till his health failed, and he is highly recommended to me. Billy is
bright and well advanced for his age, so I think he and Hubert must be
doing about the same work. It is so lonely for him, do you suppose
Hubert, or Theodora, or both of them, would be willing to study with
him, to keep him company?"

The matter was settled in family council, that same evening. Though it
seemed to Dr. McAlister too fine an opportunity to be lost, he left it
entirely to the choice of the children. Theodora accepted the new plan
with prompt delight. Hubert hesitated, chose the tutor, chose to stay in
school with his boy friends, dreaded to be separated from Theodora, and
finally decided to remain in the school. Two months later, Theodora was
reading the Anabasis, while Hubert was still toiling over the
intricacies of the irregular verb.

The tutor proved to be a good one, and, from the start, it was a close
race between Theodora and Billy. He was eighteen months the older; she
was in perfect health, and her lithe young body held an equally active
mind. Moreover, she was determined not to be outdone by Billy, nor yet
be a drag upon him, so she fell to work with a will and accomplished
wonders, while Mr. Brown daily rejoiced that his lines had fallen in
such pleasant places.

At dinner-time, Archie appeared, laden with his offerings for his
adopted family circle.

"I shot this beast, myself, Bess," he said, as he threw a great rug at
her feet. "He was an eight-hundred-pound grizzly who liked the smell of
our supper. If you feel of his head, you can find the holes where I shot
him. Tom Keyes and I tracked him by the blood on the snow, and we
finally cornered him. I thought Hubert might like these antlers, and
here's some trumpery for the others."

As he spoke, he tossed a handful of little packages about the group,
which quickly became clamorous in its joy. Theodora looked up from her
great nugget mounted on a slender pin, to discover that Billy too had
been included in the frolic, and she shot an approving glance at Archie
just as Allyn climbed to the young man's knee.

"Fank you," the child said, with a sounding kiss. "I love you, and I