he subject was not again broached between Mrs. Tinknor and herself
until the morning that the first named started for her home, and it
was only at the moment of their last fond leave taking, that Little
Wolf leaned over the side of the sleigh and whispered in her ear, "I
shall never be able to write to you about it, but if _he_ refuses to
accept the condition which I feel I _ought_ to make, I will just send
you a lock of my hair and you will know it is all over with us."

Her lip quivered as she turned away and as the Squire drove off, Tom
who had observed her agitation said to his mother, "she is tender
hearted, that savage Little Wolf after all."

CHAPTER XXI.

DADDY'S DIPLOMACY--A PASSAGE AT ARMS--FANNIE GREEN--A
CATASTROPHE.

A sudden sense of responsibility seemed to fall upon Daddy, as with
Little Wolf, he watched the Squire's swift gliding sleigh, and its
occupants, until they had dwindled together, a mere speck on the
silent river.

'Tween you and me, Honey, it won't du for you to be shiverin, here in
the snow. Mr. Tom said I was fur to take care of you when he was gone;
'tween you and me Mr. Tom is oncommon nice young man, oncommon,
considerin his father, very oncommon."

"How so Daddy?"

"'Tween you and me he's a teetotaler, out and out, and the Squire
ain't. I ketched him sneakin off down to the brewery several times. I
kinder think Tom takes after his mother, and its a good sign fur boys
to take after their mother. Now there's Mr. Sherman, he takes after
his father. His every motion is like the judge. To be sure, the Judge
was a wonderful smart man, but then when I lived in them parts he was
in the habit of drinkin, pretty heavy. Afore I left he signed the
pledge, but there ain't no tellin how he would have turned out if he
had lived."

It was plainly to be seen in whose interest Daddy was enlisted. His
diplomatic efforts were listened to with great composure and he could
only speculate on the result as he went into the house with Little
Wolf.

The parlor was in a state of confusion, Mrs. Hawley and Sorrel Tom
having combined forces to raise the greatest possible amount of dust
and disorder out of the material at hand; such as the ashes from the
Squire's segar inadvertantly dropped, the dirt from Tom's boots which
he never remembered to clean, and Daddy's careless litter in making
the fire. The light litter was easily disposed of, but the inevitable
stain left by the melted snow