t away, if you could hold him down to it. He's jes'
like his pa--the very spittin' image of him! Mr. Wiggs was so
educated--the most fluent man in jography I ever seen!"

"I'm goin' to be like Mr. Bob when I grow up," said Billy, stoutly.
His recollection of his paternal parent was not the sort ideals are
made of.

Just here the waiter appeared with the final course, and Asia lifted
the tablecloth and whispered, "Say, 'Straly, we 've got ice-cream."
No answer. Then little Europena, with baby wisdom, put her tow head
under the cloth, and said, "'Traly, it's pink!" and Australia
emerged, tear-stained but smiling, and finished her supper on Mr.
Bob's knee.

When the limit of capacity had been tested to the fullest, and Billy
had declared that "he couldn't swaller no more, he was jes'
chawin'," Redding filled their pockets with candy and, when Mrs.
Wiggs was not looking, put a quarter in each hand. Then he rang for
a carriage, and, in spite of Mrs. Wiggs's protestations, he put them
in, and repeated Billy's directions as to the exact location of the
Cabbage Patch.

"My, my, ain't this nice!" said Mrs. Wiggs, leaning back against
carriage cushions for the first time in her life, while Redding
lifted Europena in beside her.

"We 've seed a good time fer onct in our lives," said Asia. It was
the first time she had spoken since they left the theater.

"Lemme ride up on top, ma!" demanded Billy, eagerly.

"Lemme, too, lemme!" came from the sleepy Australia, who did not
know what new attraction was being offered, but was resolved not to
miss anything.

"All right, Billy; but, Austry, you must stay with ma. Good-by, Mr.
Bob, and thanks--thanks fer one an' all!"

Redding stood on the corner where they had left him, and the smile
died out of his face. Within a block was a jolly crowd and a hearty
welcome; across the street was the big apartment house where his
dark and cheerless window promised him nothing. For a moment he
stood irresolute. "There is certainly nobody to care where I go," he
thought gloomily; then suddenly the smile came back. "But if I'm to
be Billy Wiggs's model, I guess I'd better go to bed." He ran
lightly across the street, and up the broad stone steps.

CHAPTER VIII

MRS. WIGGS AT HOME

"She had a sunny nature that sought, like
a flower in a dark place, for the light."

ON Christmas day Lucy Olcott stood by the library window, and idly
scratched initials on the frosty pane. A tabl