capacity to enjoy being alone and a long repressed curiosity which now found indulgence among people who liked to answer questions and were pleased when he asked them.  Very often, as he came into easier relations with his aunt, he was told to take some query she could not answer to Uncle James or the rector.  A rather sensitive lad, he soon became aware that his uncle appeared to take no great interest in him, and, too, the boy’s long cultivated though lessening reserve kept them apart.  Meanwhile, Ann watched with pleasure his gain in independence, in looks and in appetite.  While James Penhallow after his game of whist at night growled in his den over the bitter politics of the day, North and South, his wife read aloud to the children by the fireside in her own small sitting-room or answered as best she could John’s questions, confessing ignorance at times or turning to books of reference.  It was not always easy to satisfy this restless young mind in a fast developing body.  “Were guinea pigs really pigs?  What was the hematite iron-ore his uncle used at the works?” Once he was surprised.  He asked one evening, “What was the Missouri Compromise?” He had read so much about it in the papers.  “Hasn’t it something to do with slavery?  Aunt Ann, it must seem strange to own a man.”  His eager young ears had heard rather ignorant talk of it from his mother’s English friends.

His aunt said quietly, “My people in Maryland own slaves, John.  It is not a matter for a child to discuss.  The abolitionists at the North are making trouble.  It is a subject—­we—­I do not care to talk about.”

“But what is an abolitionist, aunt?” he urged.

She laughed and said gaily, “I will answer no more conundrums; ask your uncle.”

Leila who took no interest in politics fidgeted until she got her chance when Mrs. Ann would not answer John.  “I want to hear about that talking oak, John.”

She was quicker than he to observe her aunt’s annoyance, and Ann, glad to be let off easily, found the needed book, and for a time they fell under the charm of Tennyson, and then earlier than usual were sent to bed.

The days ran on into weeks of school, and now there were snow-shoe tramps or sleigh rides to see some big piece of casting at the forge, where persistently-curious John did learn from some one what hematite was.  The life became to him steadily more and more pleasant as he shed with ease the habits of an over regulated life, and living wholesome days prospered in body and mind.

Christmas was a disappointment to Leila and to him.  There was an outbreak of measles at Westways and there would be no carols, nor children gathered at Grey Pine.  Ann’s usual bounty of toys was sent to the village.  John’s present from his uncle was a pair of skates, and then Leila saw a delightful chance to add another branch of education.  Next morning, for this was holiday-week, she asked if he would like to learn to skate.  They had gone early to the cabin and were lazily enjoying a rest after a snow-shoe tramp.  He replied, in an absent way, “I suppose I may as well learn.  How many Indians were there?”