re you?"

"Jan-an."

Another name become a person! Northrup smiled. They were all
materializing; the names, the stories.

"I see. Well?"

There was a pause. The girl was studying him slowly, almost painfully,
but she did not speak.

"Where do you live, Jan-an?"

This made talk and filled an uncomfortable pause.

"One place and another. I was left."

"Left?"

"Yep. Left on the town. Folks take me in turn-about. I just jog along.
I'm staying over to the Point now. Next I'm going to Aunt Polly. I
chooses, I do. I likes to jog along."

The girl was inclined to be friendly and she was amusing.

"Did you hear the bell ring the night you came--the ha'nt bell?" she
asked.

"I certainly did."

"'Twas a warning, and then here _you_ are! Generally warnings mean bad
things, but Aunt Polly says you're right enough and generally they
ain't when they're young."

"Who are not, Jan-an?"

"Men. When they get old, like Uncle Peter, they meller or----"

"Or what?"

"Naturally drop off."

Northrup laughed. The sound disturbed the girl and she scowled.

"It's terrible to have folks think you're a fool to be laughed at,"
she muttered. "I can't get things over."

"What do you want to get over, Jan-an?"

Northrup was becoming interested. If straws show the wind's quarter,
then a bit of driftwood may be depended upon to indicate the course of
a stream. Northrup was again both amused and surprised to find how his
very ordinary presence in King's Forest was, apparently, affecting
the natives. Jan-an took on new proportions as she was regarded in the
light of a straw or a bit of driftwood.

"Yer feelin's," the girl answered simply. "When you don' understand
like most do, yer feelin's count, they do!"

"They certainly do, Jan-an."

The girl considered this and struggled, evidently, to adjust her
companion to suit her needs, but at last she shook her head.

"I ain't going to take no chances with yer!" she muttered at length.
"'Tain't natural. Aunt Polly and Uncle Peter ain't risking so much
as--her----"

"You mean----" Northrup felt guilty. He knew whom the girl meant--he
felt as if he were taking advantage; eavesdropping or reading someone
else's letter.

Jan-an sunk her face deeper into the cup of her hands--this pressed
her features up and made her look laughably ugly. She was not taking
much heed of the man near by; she was seeking to collect all the
shreds of evidence she had gathered from listening, in her