n I am at home?"

"It isn't every time I can get to go up, I'm that busy here most days."

"Only the days when I am absent can you 'get to go up'?" he would say
teasingly. "Don't I ever deserve a visit?"

"Cass don't get time fer visitin' these days. Since Frale lef' she have
all his work an' hern too on her, an' mine too, only the leetle help she
gets out'n Hoyle, an' hit hain't much," said the mother. "Doctah, don't
ye guess I can get up an' try walkin' a leetle?"

"If you will promise me you will only try it when I am here to help you,
I will take off the weight, and we'll see what you can do to-day."

Cassandra loved to watch David attend on her mother, so tender was he;
and he adopted a playful manner that always dispelled her pessimism and
left her smiling and talkative. Ere he was aware, also, he made a place
for himself In Cassandra's heart when he became interested in the case
of her little brother, and attempted gradually to overcome his
deformity.

Every morning when the child climbed to his eyrie and brought his supply
of milk, David took him in and gently, out of his knowledge and skill,
gave him systematic care, and taught him how to help himself; but he
soon saw that a more strenuous course would be the only way to bring
permanent relief, or surely the trouble would increase.

"What did Doctor Hoyle say about it?" he asked one day.

"He wa'n't that-a-way when doctah war here last. Hit war nigh on five
year ago that come on him. He had fevah, an' a right smart o' times when
we thought he war a-gettin' bettah he jes' went back, ontwell he began
to kind o' draw sideways this-a-way, an' he hain't nevah been straight
sence, an' he has been that sickly, too. When doctah saw him last, he
war nigh three year old an' straight as they make 'em, an' fat--you
couldn't see a bone in him."

David pondered a moment. "Suppose you give him to me awhile," he said.
"Let him live with me in my cabin--eat there, sleep there--everything,
and we'll see what can be done for him."

"I'm willin', more'n willin', when only I can get to help Cass some.
Hoyle, he's a heap o' help, with me not able to do a lick. He can milk
nigh as well as she can, an' tote in water, an' feed the chick'ns an'
th' pig, an' rid'n' to mill fer meal--yas, he's a heap o' help. Cass,
she got to get on with th' weavin'. We promised bed kivers an' such fer
Miss Mayhew. She sells 'em fer ladies 'at comes to the hotel in summah.
We nevah would have a