It takes so little to make a child happy, it is a pity grown people do not oftener remember it and scatter little bits of pleasure before the small people, as they throw crumbs to the hungry sparrows.  Miss Celia knew the boy was pleased, but he had no words in which to express his gratitude for the great contentment she had given him.  He could only beam at all he met, smile when the floating ends of the gray veil blew against his face, and long in his heart to give the new friend a boyish hug as he used to do his dear Melia when she was very good to him.

School was just out as they passed, and it was a spectacle, I assure you, to see the boys and girls stare at Ben up aloft in such state; also to see the superb indifference with which that young man regarded the vulgar herd who went afoot.  He could not resist an affable nod to Bab and Betty, for they stood under the maple-tree, and the memory of their circulating library made him forget his dignity in his gratitude.

“We will take them next time, but now I want to talk to you,” began Miss Celia, as Lita climbed the hill.  “My brother has been ill, and I have brought him here to get well.  I want to do all sorts of things to amuse him, and I think you can help me in many ways.  Would you like to work for me instead of the Squire?”

“I guess I would!” ejaculated Ben, so heartily that no further assurances were needed, and Miss Celia went on, well pleased: 

“You see, poor Thorny is weak and fretful, and does not like to exert himself, though he ought to be out a great deal, and kept from thinking of his little troubles.  He cannot walk much yet, so I have a wheeled chair to push him in, and the paths are so hard it will be easy to roll him around.  That will be one thing you can do.  Another is to take care of his pets till he is able to do it himself.  Then you can tell him your adventures, and talk to him as only a boy can talk to a boy.  That will amuse him when I want to write or go out; but I never leave him long, and hope he will soon be running about as well as the rest of us.  How does that sort of work look to you?”

“First-rate!  I’ll take real good care of the little fellow, and do everything I know to please him, and so will Sanch.  He’s fond of children,” answered Ben, heartily, for the new place looked very inviting to him.

Miss Celia laughed, and rather damped his ardor by her next words: 

“I don’t know what Thorny would say to hear you call him ‘little.’  He is fourteen, and appears to get taller and taller every day.  He seems like a child to me, because I am nearly ten years older than he is; but you needn’t be afraid of his long legs and big eyes,—­he is too feeble to do any harm,—­only you mustn’t mind if he orders you about.”

“I’m used to that.  I don’t mind it if he wont call me a ‘spalpeen,’ and fire things at me,” said Ben, thinking of his late trials with Pat.