“Not so much as it sounds,” the girl said earnestly.  “I’m not all a child, Cousin Ted; and I have watched Allyn a good deal.  It hasn’t seemed to me that things went right with him; but there was nothing I could put my finger on, nothing at all.  I like him, and I like to do things with him, even if he is younger; but I don’t want you to think I am horrid and forward with him, when he doesn’t want me.”

She was silent for a moment, while Melchisedek licked her face, unrebuked.  Then she rose, pushing the dog gently away.

“Is this what you mean, Cousin Theodora:  that it will be a good idea, for me to do things with Allyn, to care for the things he likes, and, if he gets cross and goes off not to care, but just go after him and bring him back again?”

“If you feel as if you could, Cicely.”

“I do; I’d be glad to.  Sometimes I wonder if any one else were ever half so good fun; sometimes I wonder how such a grumpy thing can be a McAlister,” she said, with thoughtful frankness.  “It’s the grumpy side that must be kept under, I suppose; but he isn’t real sweet to handle under such circumstances.”

“I know that,” Theodora answered, as she rose and stooped to pick up Melchisedek who was pulling at her skirts appealingly.  “But it’s only the chance of helping him forget to be grumpy, till he outgrows the habit.  It isn’t that I want to spoil him, Cicely.  It wouldn’t do any good to coddle him or give in to him.  Just keep out of all the skirmishes you can; and when he forces you into one, do what you can to establish a truce.  Most boys go through this thorny age; it’s as inevitable as mumps, but Allyn is taking it very hard, and we want to break it up before it becomes chronic.  Do you see what I am driving at, dear?”

“Enough so that I am going to wave the olive branch, to-morrow,” she answered, laughing.  “If he ignores it, I’ll try it again in some other form.  I only wanted to make sure that you approved of my meddling.”  She put her hand through Theodora’s arm and together they paced up and down the broad piazza.  Above them, the stars were dotting the still, dark air, and the ragged outline of The Savins showed itself faintly through the great trees.  “His eyes have looked so heavy, the last day or two,” she added, as she looked across to the light shining out from Allyn’s window.  And again, after a long interval, “It’s not so easy, after all, Cousin Ted, this being a girl.”

CHAPTER TEN

“Teddy, I am worried about Allyn.”

“What is the matter?  Isn’t he well?”

“Yes, only rather listless.  It isn’t his health I am worrying about; it is his character.”

“He will come out all right,” Theodora said cheerily, for it was rare to see her father in a despondent mood, and the sight distressed her.

“Perhaps; but it seems to me that something is wrong with the boy.  He isn’t like the rest of you.”