thunder, closer and louder, startled them. Miss Milly sat
bolt upright, white-faced, and reached out a hand.

"Oh--_sister_! _Not_ in the storm!"

B'lindy rose majestically and towered over her mistress. When, down
behind her shut doors, that baby had gone to sleep in B'lindy's arms,
something had wakened in her sixty-year old heart; it throbbed in her
voice now. She spoke slowly. "I guess the _Almighty_ sent Davy
Hopworth here with this poor little young 'un! Like as not it would go
hungry more'n once, and if three women here can't take care of a little
baby--well, the Lord that suffered little children to come unto Him
like's not will hold us to 'count for it! I guess Happy House would be
a heap happier if there was less high and mightiness and more of the
human milk of kindness in it, and doin' for others like little Miss
Anne's always tryin' to do, anyway!" And quite breathless from her
outburst B'lindy knelt beside the baby and defiantly folded sheltering
arms over it.

For the briefest of moments no one stirred. Then Miss Sabrina rose
hurriedly, and, mumbling something incoherent, left the room.

Across the baby B'lindy's eyes, feverishly bright, met Miss Milly's
anxious glance.

"Don't know what she said, but, Milly Leavitt, sure's I'm alive I saw a
_tear_ in Sabriny Leavitt's eye! I guess we keep this baby."

CHAPTER XXII

REAL LEAVITTS AND OTHERS

The storm overtook Peter and Nancy on a lonely road that Peter had
taken as a short-cut home.

At a sharp flash of lightning Nancy clutched Peter's arm.

"Pe-ter! Oh-h! It's silly for me to be afraid! It's only when it
crackles!"

"I thought we could make Freedom before it broke. But I guess not.
Here comes the rain!"

It came, in a blinding deluge.

"Sit close to me, Nancy. We must get to a house _somewhere_ along this
road!"

"B'lindy's bones certainly did feel right," Nancy giggled, excitedly.
"Oh-h!" at another flash. "_Pe-ter_! I'm--I'm such a coward. Don't
you think that's the worst?"

Peter hoped that it wasn't. He did not mind at all the flashes that
sent little quivers of alarm through Nancy and made her huddle closer
to him; he enjoyed the sense of protecting her, though his face, bent
grimly upon the puddled road ahead, gave no hint of his real feeling.

"If this bus only had its curtains! Are you soaked?"

"You are, too, Peter! Do you suppose this is a cloudburst? Can the
car make it?" For the little Ford