were lost in deep thought, for everything they
had heard was very real to them.

"And did you marry daddy?" Tommy unexpectedly asked, at which the
others laughed merrily.

"No, dear, not for several years. I guess we were too poor to marry.
Anyway, we waited until your daddy and my daddy built this nice house
and cleared some of the land."

"Are we rich now, Mummy?" Ruth questioned.

"Not rich, dear, but comfortable. We have a good home, and one of the
best farms along the river. We are rich, though, in happiness and in
our children. Your grandfather was always so proud of you. Ruth, you
were but a baby when he died. He was very fond of you, and named you
after my mother. It was a sad day for me when he was taken away."

Again Jean glanced at the picture, and thought of what her father had
meant to her.

"When did Old Mammy die?" Ruth asked.

"Not long after your grandfather. She was sick but a short time, and
grieved very much over my father's death. She longed to go back to her
old home in Connecticut, but that could not be. She died murmuring the
words of her favourite psalm, 'The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not
want.' She was a good, true woman, and a mother to me. It is very
hard to lose our loved ones."

"But we have the Indians, Pete, Sam, and Kitty," James reminded. "They
are coming to-morrow, and I am so glad. Sam is going to make me a bow
and a whole lot of arrows."

"And Kitty promised me a pair of snow-shoes," Ruth said.

"But Pete's going to bring me the best of all," Tommy chimed.

"What's that, dear?" his mother asked.

"Spruce gum. He said he would, anyway."

James and Ruth laughed so heartily that Tommy became embarrassed, and
hid his flushed face against his mother.

"There, there, dear," Jean soothed. "It is all right, James and Ruth
will want some gum, too. I am sure they will be very glad to see you,
and will have presents for all. We must make this a very pleasant
Christmas for them. They are getting old, so we cannot expect to have
them with us much longer. Their house is all ready, and Martha is
preparing a great dinner for them. We shall all go over to visit them."

"Did daddy build that house for them?" Ruth asked.

"Yes, you know he did. It was his own idea. He was so grateful to Sam
and Kitty for what they did for me, that he had the house built just
for them and Pete. It is their home, and they can come there at any
time, and stay just as long as