gers, bruised noses and wounded hearts would need
sympathetic attention before night?

And so it went on until the evening before the two weeks were
completed; then, after the children were abed and asleep, the man and
his wife talked it over.

"Well, this ends to-morrow, I suppose. You must be tired, Mary; it's
been a hard time for you, dear," he began.

"Not a bit of it, James," she demurred. "Hannah and Betsey have done
all the work, and you 've been with the children so much I 've not felt
their care at all."

The man stirred uneasily.

"Well, I--I wanted to relieve you as much as possible," he exclaimed,
wondering if she knew how many boats he had built for the boys, and how
many jackknives he had broken in the process.

"Do you know?--I think I shall be actually lonely when they are gone,"
declared Mrs. Wentworth, without looking up.

The man threw a sharp glance at his wife.

"So shall I," he said.

"James, I've been wondering, could n't we--adopt one of them?" she
suggested, trying to make it appear as if the thought had but just
entered her head.

Again the man gave his wife a swift glance.

"Why--we--might--I suppose," he returned, hoping that his hesitation
would indicate that the idea was quite new to him--instead of having
been almost constantly in his thoughts for a week.

"We might take two--company for each other, you know!" She looked at
him out of the corner of her eye.

"Hm-m," he agreed pleasantly.

"The only trouble is the selecting, James."

"Yes, that is a drawback," murmured the man, with a vivid recollection
of a certain afternoon under the apple trees.

"Well, I'll tell you"--Mrs. Wentworth leaned forward in sudden
animation--"to-morrow you pick out the one you want and ask him--or
her--to go into the parlor for a few minutes at nine o'clock in the
morning, and I will do the same."

"Well, maybe," he began a little doubtfully, "but--"

"And if there are two, and you are n't real sure which you want, just
ask both of them to go, and we 'll settle it together, later," she
finished.

To this, with some measure of content, her husband agreed.

The next morning at ten minutes before nine Mrs. Wentworth began her
search. With no hesitation she accosted the little cripple.

"Tommy, dear, I want you to go into the parlor for a few minutes. Take
your book in there and read, and I 'll come very soon and tell you what
I want."

Tommy obeyed at once and Mrs. Wentworth sig