n gave him. There were grotesque heads for rag dolls, and
the good woman seemed to have unlimited rags and an excellent taste in
doll-dressmaking; there were chunky automobiles with spools for wheels;
there were funny little wooden men who jumped in most amusing fashion
at the end of wires which were stuck into their backs. Old Etienne was
always ready to sit and whittle until the evening settled down and he
could see no longer, even though he held the wood and busy knife close
to his eyes.

So on that evening he whittled as usual.

Walker Farr came to the yard and sat beside the old man on the door-step
and was plainly thinking no agreeable thoughts while he listened to the
chatter of the children.

After the darkness had come and the larger boys and girls, custodians
of their tiny kin, had dragged away the protesting and whimpering little
folks because it was bedtime, Zelie Dionne laid down her needlework over
which she had been straining her eyes. The good woman protested often
because the girl toiled so steadily with her needle after her day at the
mill was ended. And on that summer evening she voiced complaint again.

"You have so many pretty gowns already! You wear one last evening--you
wear anodder this evening--and still you make some more! When a young
girl nigh kill herself so as to make a picture-book of her dresses
I think it is time to look for some young man who seems to like the
pictures. Eh?"

"Mother Angelique, I do not relish jokes which are silly," protested the
girl. "You know how the girls of our country are taught! We cannot sit
with hands in our laps without being very unhappy."

She went out and sat upon the door-step where old Etienne made way for
her.

"At first I did not think I would come out, Mr. Farr," she said. "But I
have made bold to come."

"I do not think it needs boldness to come where I am," he returned. "I
hope you are not going to make a stranger of me because I have not been
very neighborly of late. I have been busy and I have been away. The boys
have paid my fare up-country, and so I ran about to carry the gospel of
the free water. The truckmen have volunteered in half a dozen places. We
are doing a great work."

"And yet I am afraid," she confessed. "You are fighting men who can do
you much harm. I have been asking questions so as to know more about
those men. For they have threatened poor Father Etienne. I wanted to
know about them. I cannot help. But can you not hel