o
see them here. I kept my promise. I didn't come in alone. Pete came
with me. He's so strong, he isn't afraid of anything, and he's perfectly
splendid to locate cocoons! He's found half of these. Come on, Pete,
it's getting dark now, and we must go."

They started toward the trail, Pete carrying the cocoons. He left them
at the case, while Elnora and Wesley went on to the carriage together.

"Elnora Comstock, what does this mean?" demanded her mother.

"It's all right, one of the neighbours was with her, and she got several
dollars' worth of stuff," interposed Wesley.

"You oughter seen my pa," shouted Billy. "He was ist all whited out, and
he laid as still as anything. They put him away deep in the ground."

"Billy!" breathed Margaret in a prolonged groan.

"Jimmy and Belle are going to be together in a nice place. They are
coming to see me, and Snap is right down here by the wheel. Here, Snap!
My, but he'll be tickled to get something to eat! He's 'most twisted
as me. They get new clothes, and all they want to eat, too, but they'll
miss me. They couldn't have got along without me. I took care of them.
I had a lot of things give to me 'cause I was the littlest, and I always
divided with them. But they won't need me now."

When she left the carriage Mrs. Comstock gravely shook hands with Billy.
"Remember," she said to him, "I love boys, and I love dogs. Whenever you
don't have a good time up there, take your dog and come right down and
be my little boy. We will just have loads of fun. You should hear the
whistles I can make. If you aren't treated right you come straight to
me."

Billy wagged his head sagely. "You ist bet I will!" he said.

"Mother, how could you?" asked Elnora as they walked up the path.

"How could I, missy? You better ask how couldn't I? I just couldn't! Not
for enough to pay, my road tax! Not for enough to pay the road tax, and
the dredge tax, too!"

"Aunt Margaret always has been lovely to me, and I don't think it's fair
to worry her."

"I choose to be lovely to Billy, and let her sweat out her own worries
just as she has me, these sixteen years. There is nothing in all this
world so good for people as taking a dose of their own medicine. The
difference is that I am honest. I just say in plain English, 'if they
don't treat you right, come to me.' They have only said it in actions
and inferences. I want to teach Mag Sinton how her own doses taste, but
she begins to sputter before I fai