“You should not say such things in the hearing of the child,” admonished Aunty Rose severely. “Perhaps Jedidiah Parlow has been misjudged all these years. He may have a kinder heart than you think.” “Kind-hearted!” snorted Mr. Stagg. “If he’s got a heart at all, he’s successfully hidden it for nigh seventy years, from all I’ve heard tell.” “Oh, Uncle Joe, he _must_ have a heart, you know,” broke in Carolyn May earnestly. “We had physerology studies in the school I used to go to, and you have to have hearts, and lungs, and livers, and other inwards, or else you couldn’t keep going. Mr. Parlow must have a heart.” “I s’pose he must,” acknowledged Uncle Joe, “from that standpoint. But, beside from its pumping blood through his arteries, his heart action hasn’t been what you might call excessive. And for him to take that old codger in out o’ the snow——” Aunty Rose interrupted, as she often did at such times, sternly. “Joseph Stagg, for a man with ordinary, good common sense, as you’ve got, you do sometimes ’pear to be pretty near purblind. I shouldn’t wonder if Jedidiah Parlow has changed of late. It is more than probable.” Then, as Mr. Stagg continued to stare at her, plainly surprised by her vehemence, the housekeeper continued: “Nor is he the only person that shows signs of change—and from the same cause. Have you never stopped to think of other changes nearer home that have been brought about by the same means? Answer me, Joseph Stagg.” The hardware dealer cast a quick glance at Carolyn May, busy with her knife and fork, and had the grace to blush a little. Then, suddenly, his eyes twinkled, and a smile wreathed the corners of his mouth. “Hold on, Aunty Rose. I say! do you ever look in the mirror?” “Never mind about me, Joseph Stagg,” she rejoined rather tartly. “Never mind about me!” Carolyn May insisted on going to the Parlow house herself after school that afternoon to enquire about her “sailor man.” She just had to know personally how he was getting on! The steady stream of timber sleds from Adams’ camp, and others, had beaten down the drifts again, so Aunty Rose made no objection to the little girl and the dog’s making this call. Mr. Parlow peered at them through the window of the carpenter’s shop and waved his hand; but Carolyn May went right into the house. When she had been kissed by Miss Amanda, and Prince had lain down by the kitchen range, the little girl demanded: “And do tell me how my sailor man is, Miss Mandy. He got _such_ a bump on the head!” “Yes; the man’s wound is really serious. I’m keeping him in bed. But you can go up to see him. He’s talked a lot about you, Carolyn May.” “Is that so?” eagerly cried the little girl. “And I’m just as cur’ous about him as I can be.” “Why are you so curious about him?” asked Miss Amanda.