ess 't is up to the town all right."

"Yes; but--if yer'll take it from me,"--interrupted Larson,--"you'll be
wise if ye keep still before the boy. It's no use ASKIN' him anythin'.
We've proved that fast enough. An' if he once turns 'round an' begins
ter ask YOU questions, yer done for!"

"I guess you're right," nodded Higgins, with a quizzical smile. "And as
long as questioning CAN'T do any good, why, we'll just keep whist
before the boy. Meanwhile I wish the little rascal would hurry up and
get here. I want to see the inside of that letter to HIM. I'm relying
on that being some help to unsnarl this tangle of telling who they are."

"Well, he's started," reiterated Mrs. Holly, as she turned back into
the house; "so I guess he'll get here if you wait long enough."

"Oh, yes, he'll get here if we wait long enough," echoed Simeon Holly
again, crustily.

The two men in the wagon settled themselves more comfortably in their
seats, and Perry Larson, after a half-uneasy, half-apologetic glance at
his employer, dropped himself onto the bottom step. Simeon Holly had
already sat down stiffly in one of the porch chairs. Simeon Holly never
"dropped himself" anywhere. Indeed, according to Perry Larson, if there
were a hard way to do a thing, Simeon Holly found it--and did it. The
fact that, this morning, he had allowed, and was still allowing, the
sacred routine of the day's work to be thus interrupted, for nothing
more important than the expected arrival of a strolling urchin, was
something Larson would not have believed had he not seen it. Even now
he was conscious once or twice of an involuntary desire to rub his eyes
to make sure they were not deceiving him.

Impatient as the waiting men were for the arrival of David, they were
yet almost surprised, so soon did he appear, running up the driveway.

"Oh, where is it, please?" he panted. "They said you had a letter for
me from daddy!"

"You're right, sonny; we have. And here it is," answered Higgins
promptly, holding out the folded paper.

Plainly eager as he was, David did not open the note till he had first
carefully set down the case holding his violin; then he devoured it
with eager eyes.

As he read, the four men watched his face. They saw first the quick
tears that had to be blinked away. Then they saw the radiant glow that
grew and deepened until the whole boyish face was aflame with the
splendor of it. They saw the shining wonder of his eyes, too, as he
looked