owls, air ye?"

"Nope," came forth a sweet voice. "I ain't 'fraid of nothin' nor nobody
but Ed Waldstricker and Sandy Letts."

Tess giggled in glee.

"Well, they nuther one of 'em gits in my garret if I see 'em first,"
said she, "an' the owls air as tame as cats, an' 'll be company when
ye're lonely nights. Deacon air the speckled one an' he loves every inch
of Daddy an' me. If ye're good to 'im, he'll love you, too, Andy."
Turning to her father, "The person what'll help Andy air Professor
Young, I bet."

Daddy Skinner's face fell perceptibly, and two long lines marked off the
sides of his nose.

"Who's he?" came from under the bed in a stifled breath.

"He air a awful nice man," explained Tess. "He lives in Graves' old
place on the hill, an' he learns me new things out of books every
day.... His sister's teachin' me to sew, too. I told ye she air goin' to
marry--"

"Tessibel," interrupted Skinner, gravely fearful. "Ye said jest now
Waldstricker were a goin' to marry Young's sister. That makes them two
families kinda like one. Ye bet Young'd stand by his sister's man....
See?... Besides that, Young air a lawyer, an' if ye tell 'im about Andy,
it'll sure be 'is duty to pinch 'im an' put 'im back where he were."

"He helped you once, Daddy!" the girl rebuked him.

"But I were in jail all the time, don't ye see the difference, brat?...
Till 'twere proved Ben Letts done the murder, I were kept in jail, too,
an' they'll put Andy back if ye say anythin' to Young 'bout it."

"They sure will," came the dwarf's sobbing tones.

Tessibel sighed.

"Well, us uns'll have to keep our clacks shut 'bout 'is bein' here,
then," she acquiesced, "an'--an'--Andy'll have to keep in the garret
till the man in Auburn coughs up, that air all, huh?... He can come down
sometimes when it air a rainin' hard or dark nights when there ain't
nobody around, an'--an'--darlin', ye can offen chat with 'im when I air
outside watchin' fer folks.... Now, can't ye, Daddy?"

The young speaker went close to her father, smiling. She wanted to chase
that hunted look from his eyes, to make him feel a little more secure
about his prison friend.

"Please don't be lookin' like that, sweety," she pleaded. "Ye're just
like ye was goin' dead.... I tell ye nobody'll hurt the poor little
feller in the garret.... I'll see to that.... I'll fix it up all comfy
fer 'im."

With this idea of future protection for the little man, Tessibel began
to reconstruct