'Aunt Hannah,' for I'm an aunt to all the children in
the neighborhood, accordin' to their way of thinking. Would you be
contented to stay here for a while, my dear?"

"Indeed I would!" was the emphatic reply, and then Seth added,
remembering the conversation he had overheard: "That is, I would if I
could; but Snip an' me have got to hunt for a chance to earn our
livin', an' it won't do to think of loafin' here, even though it is
such a fine place."

Aunt Hannah smiled kindly and said, with a certain show of
determination, as if forcing herself to an unwelcome decision:

"You an' the little dog shall stay for a while, my boy, and perhaps
you can find some kind of work nearabout; but if not, surely it won't
increase my cost of living, for we'll have a garden, which is what
I'm not able to attend to now I've grown so old. Why did you leave the
city, my child?"

Had it not been for that "praying before breakfast" Seth would have
invented some excuse for his flight; but now he could not bring
himself, as he gazed into the kindly eyes, either to utter a
deliberate falsehood or to make an equivocal reply.

"I'd like to tell you," he said hesitatingly, after a long pause,
during which Aunt Hannah looked out across the meadow rather than at
him. "I'd like to tell you, but I can't," he repeated.

"I don't believe you are a bad boy, Seth," she said mildly, but
without glancing toward him.

The lad remained silent with downcast eyes, and when it seemed to him
as if many minutes had passed, the little woman added:

"Perhaps you will tell me after we are better acquainted. Gladys
declares, an' I've come quite to her way of thinking, that you should
remain with us for a time. I don't believe you could find work such as
would pay for your board and lodging, unless it was with an old woman
like me, and so we're to consider you and Snip as members of the
family."

Seth shook his head, feebly at first, for the temptation to accept the
invitation was very great, and then decidedly, as if the decision he
had arrived at could not be changed.

"Would you rather go away?" Aunt Hannah asked in surprise.

"No, I wouldn't!" Seth cried passionately, the tears coming
dangerously near his eyelids. "I'd do anything in this world for the
sake of havin' such a home as this; but all the same, Snip an' I can't
stay to bother you. We'll leave when he comes back."

"Listen to me, my child," and now the little woman spoke with a degree
of