three of the Ball household looked upon the young fellow
expectantly when he stepped in.

"I was just passing by and thought I'd look in and see how you all
were," said Zeb, with his usual shy manner and apologetic smile.

"Come in and set down, Zeb," said the captain eagerly. "I cal'late
you've got some news for us."

"I don't know," said Zeb thoughtfully, "but what you've got some
news that might satisfy mom and me. That is, about that girl Tunis
brought to the house."

"What about her, Zeb?" queried Prudence anxiously.

"Mom and I would be glad to know what you know about her," said
Zebedee. "She--she 'pears to have a--a great imagination."

"I shouldn't wonder," Cap'n Ira snorted.

"She don't act crazy, but she certainly talks crazy," the visitor
went on emphatically. "Why, she says the most ridiculous things
about--about Miss Bostwick!" He bowed and blushed as he spoke the
name and looked penitently toward Sheila. "Why, she declares _her_
name is Bostwick!"

"That's what she done up here," said Cap'n Ira grimly. "I cal'late
she means to kick up a fuss. Is she still stopping with your mother,
Zeb?"

"Yes. She paid a week's board money down. I expect mom wouldn't have
taken her, or it, if Tunis hadn't brought her."

"That wasn't Tunis' fault," snapped the old man. "He had to get
shet of her somehow. We expect she'll try to make trouble."

"Oh, as for that," said Zeb, with some relief, "I don't see, even if
she is your niece, why she should expect you to take her in if you
don't want to!"

"She ain't," said Cap'n Ira flatly. "You can take that from me,
Zeb."

"Not any relation at all?"

"None at all, as far as we know," declared the captain.

"Then what does she want to talk the way she does, for?" cried the
young man. "I told mom she was crazy, and now I know she is."

"I guess likely," agreed the old man, taking upon himself the burden
of the explanation. "None of us up here ever saw the gal before.
Neither Prudence nor me nor Ida May. She's loony!"

"I told mom so," reiterated Zeb, with a great sigh of relief. "I
know what she said must be a pack of foolishness. But you know how
mom is. I--"

"She's soft. I know," returned Cap'n Ira.

"She's so tender-hearted," explained Zeb. "The girl talks so. She's
talked mom not into believing in her, but into kind of listening and
sympathizing with her. And now, to-night, she's took her to see
Elder Minnett."

"What? I swan! To see the elder!" eja