nto the grass.

"There he goes," he said. "I've got to live up to my job as
guardian, I expect. Last letter I had from your pa he said he
counted on my lookin' out for you and your mamma. If he thought I
let ticklesome kitten-pillars come walkin' on you he wouldn't
cal'late I amounted to much."

For this was the "trust" to which Major Grover had referred in his
conversation with Jed. Later he explained his meaning. He was
expecting soon to be called to active service "over there." Before
he went he and Ruth were to be married.

"My wife and Barbara will stay here in the old house, Jed," he
said, "if you are willing. And I shall leave them in your charge.
It's a big trust, for they're pretty precious articles, but they'll
be safe with you."

Jed looked at him aghast. "Good land of love!" he cried. "You
don't mean it?"

"Of course I mean it. Don't look so frightened, man. It's just
what you've been doing ever since they came here, that's all. Ruth
says she has been going to you for advice since the beginning. I
just want her to keep on doing it."

"But--but, my soul, I--I ain't fit to be anybody's guardian. . . .
I--I ought to have somebody guardin' me. Anybody'll tell you
that. . . . Besides, I--I don't think--"

"Yes, you do; and you generally think right. Oh, come, don't talk
any more about it. It's a bargain, of course. And if there's
anything I can do for you on the other side, I'll be only too happy
to oblige."

Jed rubbed his chin. "W-e-e-ll," he drawled, "there's one triflin'
thing I've been hankerin' to do myself, but I can't, I'm afraid.
Maybe you can do it for me."

"All right, what is the trifling thing?"

"Eh? . . . Oh, that--er---Crown Prince thing. Do him brown, if
you get a chance, will you?"

Of course, the guardianship was, in a sense, a joke, but in another
it was not. Jed knew that Leonard Grover's leaving his wife and
Babbie in his charge was, to a certain extent, a serious trust.
And he accepted it as such.

"Has your mamma had any letters from the major the last day or so?"
he inquired.

Babbie shook her head. "No," she said, "but she's expecting one
every day. And Petunia and I expect one, too, and we're just as
excited about it as we can be. A letter like that is most par-
particklesome exciting. . . . No, I don't mean particklesome--it
was the caterpillar made me think of that. I mean partickle-ar
exciting. Don't you think it is, Uncle Jed?"

Capt