y and came headlong over the grass.

"Hello, Stanley, old man!" cried Hawker. The ardour for battle was
instantly smitten from the dog, and his barking swallowed in a gurgle of
delight. He was a large orange and white setter, and he partly expressed
his emotion by twisting his body into a fantastic curve and then dancing
over the ground with his head and his tail very near to each other. He
gave vent to little sobs in a wild attempt to vocally describe his
gladness. "Well, 'e was a dreat dod," said Hawker, and the setter,
overwhelmed, contorted himself wonderfully.

There were lights in the kitchen, and at the first barking of the dog
the door had been thrown open. Hawker saw his two sisters shading their
eyes and peering down the yellow stream. Presently they shouted, "Here
he is!" They flung themselves out and upon him. "Why, Will! why, Will!"
they panted.

"We're awful glad to see you!" In a whirlwind of ejaculation and
unanswerable interrogation they grappled the clothes case, the
paint-box, the easel, and dragged him toward the house.

He saw his old mother seated in a rocking-chair by the table. She had
laid aside her paper and was adjusting her glasses as she scanned the
darkness. "Hello, mother!" cried Hawker, as he entered. His eyes were
bright. The old mother reached her arms to his neck. She murmured soft
and half-articulate words. Meanwhile the dog writhed from one to
another. He raised his muzzle high to express his delight. He was always
fully convinced that he was taking a principal part in this ceremony of
welcome and that everybody was heeding him.

"Have you had your supper?" asked the old mother as soon as she
recovered herself. The girls clamoured sentences at him. "Pa's out in
the barn, Will. What made you so late? He said maybe he'd go up to the
cross-roads to see if he could see the stage. Maybe he's gone. What
made you so late? And, oh, we got a new buggy!"

The old mother repeated anxiously, "Have you had your supper?"

"No," said Hawker, "but----"

The three women sprang to their feet. "Well, we'll git you something
right away." They bustled about the kitchen and dove from time to time
into the cellar. They called to each other in happy voices.

Steps sounded on the line of stones that led from the door toward the
barn, and a shout came from the darkness. "Well, William, home again,
hey?" Hawker's grey father came stamping genially into the room. "I
thought maybe you got lost. I was c