out the plate, and, as he took it, fumbled in her pocket
for the fork.

"It's all cold," she murmured apologetically, "but I knew Maggie'd
never warm it. Do you mind?"

"Not a bit," he answered, with a whimsical glance at her eagerness
to serve him. "I always _did_ like greens," he added, as he accepted
the fork and attacked the spinach.

"Here, William Thayer!"

He handed one of the chops to the dog, and stared as Caroline drew
out the salt-cellar.

"Did you--well, by--that's pretty kind, now!"

"Potatoes are so nasty without it," she explained.

"Yes, that's why I don't us'ally eat 'em," he replied.

There was a moment's silence, while he ate with the frank morning
appetite of twenty, and Caroline watched him, her sympathetic jaws
moving with his, her eyes shining with hospitality.

"Nice place you've got here," he suggested, breaking a roll.

"Yes. I _wish_ I'd brought you some butter, but I didn't dare cut
any off; it was in a jar, and it clatters so. ("Oh, that's all
right!") This is nicer than it used to be out here. It _was_ the
chicken-yard, and ashes and things got put here; but nobody keeps
chickens any more, and this is all new grass. They took down the
back part of the barn, too, and painted it, and now it's the
stables, or you _can_ say carriage-house," she explained
instructively.

He threw his chop-bone to William Thayer and drew a long breath.

"That was pretty good," he said, "and I'm much obliged to you,
Miss." Caroline swelled with importance at the title. "I must have
walked four or five miles, and it's not such fun with an empty
stomach. I came from Deepdale."

"Oh, how lovely!" cried she. "By the pond?"

"Yes, by the pond. I gave William Thayer a swim, and I had a little
nap. It's nice and pretty all around there. I cut some sassafras
root; want some?"

He felt in his pockets, and produced a brown, aromatic stump;
Caroline sucked at it with a relish.

"Where are you going now?" she asked respectfully, patting William
Thayer's back while his master caressed his ear.

"Oh, I don't know exactly. There's some nice woods back of the town;
I think I'll look 'em through, and then go on to New Derby. I read
in the paper about some kind of a firemen's parade there to-morrow,
and if there's a lot of people, we'll earn something. We haven't
made much lately, because William Thayer hurt his leg, and I've been
sparing of him--haven't I, pup? But he's all right now."

He squeezed the do