y in the morning, too?"

"All through the night; but what do you mean?"

Simon seemed not to hear this. He craned his neck toward the door.
"Look, there comes the youngster! His father's son! He swings his arms
like your departed husband. And just see! The lad actually has my light
hair!"

A proud smile spread secretly over the mother's face; her Frederick's
blond curls and Simon's reddish bristles! Without answering she broke a
branch from the hedge near-by and went to meet her son, apparently to
hurry on a lazy cow, in reality, however, to whisper a few hasty, half
threatening words into his ear; for she knew his obstinate disposition,
and Simon's manner today had seemed to her more intimidating than ever.
But everything ran smoothly beyond expectation; Frederick showed himself
neither obdurate nor insolent-rather, somewhat embarrassed and anxious
to please his uncle. And so matters progressed until, after half an
hour's discussion, Simon proposed a kind of adoption of the boy, by
virtue of which he was not to take him entirely away from his mother but
was, nevertheless, to command the greater part of his time. And for this
the boy was eventually to inherit the old bachelor's fortune, which, to
be sure, couldn't have escaped him anyway. Margaret patiently allowed
her brother to explain how great the advantages of the arrangement would
be to her, how slight the loss. She knew best what a sickly widow misses
in the help of a twelve-year-old boy whom she has trained practically to
replace a daughter. But she kept silent and yielded to everything. She
only begged her brother to be firm, but not harsh, with the boy.

"He is good," she said, "but I am a lonely woman; my son is not like one
who has been ruled by a father's hand."

Simon nodded slyly. "Leave it to me; we'll get along all right; and, do
you know what?--let me have the boy right now; I have two bags to fetch
from the mill; the smallest is just right for him and that's how he'll
learn to help me. Come, Fritzy, put your wooden shoes on!" And presently
Margaret was watching them both as they walked away, Simon ahead with
his face set forward and the tails of his red coat flying out behind him
like flames, looking a good deal like a man of fire doing penance
beneath the sack he has stolen. Frederick followed him, tall and slender
for his age, with delicate, almost noble, features and long blond curls
that were better cared for than the rest of his exterior appe