But Amos was not poisoned. The doctor brought him around all right. Freda suffered an old-fashioned spanking for her part in the performance; but Aunty Rose, who did not believe in corporal punishment, did not at first know what to do to Carolyn May. “She should be punished, Joseph Stagg,” the housekeeper said to the hardware dealer. “I’ve put her to bed early——” “Not without her supper?” he asked in alarm, dropping his own knife and fork. “No-o,” she admitted. “I couldn’t do that.” Mr. Stagg chuckled. “I reckon children are children,” he observed. “I don’t know as Hannah’s Car’lyn is any different from the rest.” “I know one thing, Joseph Stagg,” said Aunty Rose severely. “If you ever have children of your own they will be utterly spoiled.” But Mr. Stagg still seemed amused. “If you had anything to do with ’em, I’d have plenty of help in spoiling ’em, Aunty Rose,” he declared. Carolyn May took the matter somewhat seriously. She tried to make it up to Amos Bartlett by lending him her sled, giving him candy when she had it, and otherwise petting him. “For he _might_ have been poisoned,” she stated; “and then he’d be dead, and would _never_ grow up to fit his nose.” Carolyn May’s acquaintance broadened constantly. She made friends wherever she went, and the wintry weather did not often keep her in the house. Uncle Joe would not hear of her going into the woods again, unless he was with her, but she could go where she pleased among the neighbours. At Sunrise Cove there were many people who loved Carolyn May Cameron. Her most faithful knight, however, was homely, optimistic Chetwood Gormley. Mr. Stagg declared that when Chet saw “Hannah’s Car’lyn” approaching he “grinned so wide that he was like to swallow his own ears.” And they would have been a mouthful. Even Mrs. Gormley, who could see few faults in her son, declared that Chet “wasn’t behind the door when ears were given out.” “Chet’s got a generous nature,” the good woman said to Carolyn May one day when the latter was making the seamstress a little visit. “It don’t take his ears to show that, though they _do_. He’d do anything for a friend. But I don’t know as he’s ’preciated as much as he’d oughter be,” sighed Mrs. Gormley. “Mr. Stagg, even, don’t know Chet’s good parts.” “Oh, yes, Mrs. Gormley, I think Uncle Joe knows all about Chet’s ears. He couldn’t hardly miss ’em,” the little girl hastened to observe. “Humph! I didn’t mean actual parts of his body,” Mrs. Gormley replied, eyeing the little girl over her spectacles. “I mean character. He’s a fine boy, Car’lyn May.” “Oh! I think he is, too,” agreed the child. “And I’m sure Uncle Joe ’preciates him.” “Well, I hope so,” sighed the seamstress. “You can’t much tell just what Mr. Joe Stagg thinks of folks. There’s him and Mandy Parlow. Somebody was tellin’ me Mr. Stagg was seen comin’ out o’ the Parlow house one day. But, shucks! _that_ ain’t so, of course?” and she looked narrowly at her little visitor.