e them meet till he had something cheerful
to say to the poor little soul. When I met her by Uncle Bart's shop,
she was trudging along in the snow like a draggled butterfly, and crying
like a baby."

Sympathetic tears dimmed Rodman's eyes. "I can't bear to see girls cry,
Ivory. I just can't bear it, especially Patty."

"Neither can I, Rod. I came pretty near wiping her eyes, but pulled up,
remembering she wasn't a child but a married lady. Well, now we come to
the point."

"Isn't Patty's being married the point?"

"No, only part of it. Patty's being sent away from home leaves Waitstill
alone with the Deacon, do you see? And if Patty is your favorite,
Waitstill is mine--I might as well own up to that."

"She's mine, too," cried Rod. "They're both my favorites, but I always
thought Patty was the suitablest for me to marry if she'd wait for me.
Waitstill is too grand for a boy!"

"She's too grand for anybody, Rod. There isn't a man alive that's worthy
to strap on her skates."

"Well, she's too grand for anybody except--" and here Rod's shy, wistful
voice trailed off into discreet silence.

"Now I had some talk with Patty, and she thinks Waitstill will have no
trouble with her father just at present. She says he lavished so much
rage upon her that there'll be none left for anybody else for a day
or two. And, moreover, that he will never dare to go too far with
Waitstill, because she's so useful to him. I'm not afraid of his beating
or injuring her so long as he keeps his sober senses, if he's ever
rightly had any; but I don't like to think of his upbraiding her and
breaking her heart with his cruel talk just after she's lost the sister
that's been her only companion." And Ivory's hand trembled as he
filled his pipe. He had no confidant but this quaint, tender-hearted,
old-fashioned little lad, to whom he had grown to speak his mind as if
he were a man of his own age; and Rod, in the same way, had gradually
learned to understand and sympathize.

"It's dreadful lonesome on Town-House Hill," said the boy in a hushed
tone.

"Dreadful lonesome," echoed Ivory with a sigh; "and I don't dare leave
mother until her fever dies down a bit and she sleeps. Now do you
remember the night that she was taken ill, and we shared the watch?"

Rodman held his breath. "Do you mean you 're going to let me help just
as if I was big?" he asked, speaking through a great lump in his throat.

"There are only two of us, Rod. You're rathe