oth road toward town.

It takes so little to make a child happy, it is a pity grown people do
not oftener remember it and scatter little bits of pleasure before the
small people, as they throw crumbs to the hungry sparrows. Miss Celia
knew the boy was pleased, but he had no words in which to express his
gratitude for the great contentment she had given him. He could only
beam at all he met, smile when the floating ends of the gray veil blew
against his face, and long in his heart to give the new friend a boyish
hug, as he used to do his dear 'Melia when she was very good to him.

School was just out as they passed; and it was a spectacle, I assure
you, to see the boys and girls stare at Ben up aloft in such state; also
to see the superb indifference with which that young man regarded the
vulgar herd who went afoot. He couldn't resist an affable nod to Bab and
Betty, for they stood under the maple-tree, and the memory of their
circulating library made him forget his dignity in his gratitude.

"We will take them next time, but now I want to talk to you," began Miss
Celia, as Lita climbed the hill. "My brother has been ill, and I have
brought him here to get well. I want to do all sorts of things to amuse
him, and I think you can help me in many ways. Would you like to work
for me instead of the Squire?

"I guess I would!" ejaculated Ben, so heartily that no further
assurances were needed, and Miss Celia went on, well pleased:--

"You see, poor Thorny is weak and fretful, and does not like to exert
himself, though he ought to be out a great deal, and kept from thinking
of his little troubles. He cannot walk much yet, so I have a wheeled
chair to push him in; and the paths are so hard, it will be easy to roll
him about. That will be one thing you can do. Another is to take care of
his pets till he is able to do it himself. Then you can tell him your
adventures, and talk to him as only a boy can talk to a boy. That will
amuse him when I want to write or go out; but I never leave him long,
and hope he will soon be running about as well as the rest of us. How
does that sort of work look to you?"

"First-rate! I'll take real good care of the little feller, and do every
thing I know to please him, and so will Sanch; he's fond of children,"
answered Ben, heartily, for the new place looked very inviting to him.
Miss Celia laughed, and rather damped his ardor by her next words.

"I don't know what Thorny would say to hear you