“Well, she likes me, and I used to be a boy.  Anyway, as I remember she has had her way about everything at our house ever since we were married.  I am going to please myself about Billy.  Hasn’t she always done just as she chose so far as you know?  Honest, Elnora!”

“Honest!” replied Elnora.  “You are beautiful to all of us, Uncle Wesley; but Aunt Margaret won’t like Billy.  She won’t want him in her home.”

“In our home,” corrected Wesley.

“What makes you want him?” marvelled Elnora.

“God only knows,” said Sinton.  “Billy ain’t so beautiful, and he ain’t so smart, I guess it’s because he’s so human.  My heart goes out to him.”

“So did mine,” said Elnora.  “I love him.  I’d rather see him eat my lunch than have it myself any time.”

“What makes you like him?” asked Wesley.

“Why, I don’t know,” pondered Elnora.  “He’s so little, he needs so much, he’s got such splendid grit, and he’s perfectly unselfish with his brother and sister.  But we must wash him before Aunt Margaret sees him.  I wonder if mother——­”

“You needn’t bother.  I’m going to take him home the way he is,” said Sinton.  “I want Maggie to see the worst of it.”

“I’m afraid——­” began Elnora.

“So am I,” said Wesley, “but I won’t give him up.  He’s taken a sort of grip on my heart.  I’ve always been crazy for a boy.  Don’t let him hear us.”

“Don’t let him be killed!” cried Elnora.  During their talk Billy had wandered to the edge of the walk and barely escaped the wheels of a passing automobile in an effort to catch a stray kitten that seemed in danger.

Wesley drew Billy back to the walk, and held his hand closely.  “Are you ready, Elnora?”

“Yes; you were gone a long time,” she said.

Wesley glanced at a package she carried.  “Have to have another book?” he asked.

“No, I bought this for mother.  I’ve had such splendid luck selling my specimens, I didn’t feel right about keeping all the money for myself, so I saved enough from the Indian relics to get a few things I wanted.  I would have liked to have gotten her a dress, but I didn’t dare, so I compromised on a book.”

“What did you select, Elnora?” asked Wesley wonderingly.

“Well,” said she, “I have noticed mother always seemed interested in anything Mark Twain wrote in the newspapers, and I thought it would cheer her up a little, so I just got his ‘Innocents Abroad.’  I haven’t read it myself, but I’ve seen mention made of it all my life, and the critics say it’s genuine fun.”

“Good!” cried Sinton.  “Good!  You’ve made a splendid choice.  It will take her mind off herself a lot.  But she will scold you.”

“Of course,” assented Elnora.  “But, possibly she will read it, and feel better.  I’m going to serve her a trick.  I am going to hide it until Monday, and set it on her little shelf of books the last thing before I go away.  She must have all of them by heart.  When, she sees a new one she can’t help being glad, for she loves to read, and if she has all day to become interested, maybe she’ll like it so she won’t scold so much.”