“The judge was very nice to me, Cousin Arthur, and told me I might choose anybody I pleased for my guardian, and of course I chose you.” “You did?” asked the young man in a by no means pleased astonishment. “Why on earth did you do that, Dorothy?” “Why, because I wanted you to be my guardian, of course. Don’t you want to be my guardian, Cousin Arthur?” “I hardly know, child. It involves a great responsibility and a great deal of hard work.” “Won’t you take the responsibility and undertake the work for my sake, Cousin Arthur?” “Certainly I will, my child. I wasn’t thinking of that exactly--but of some other things. But tell me, how did you come to do this? Who suggested it to you?” “Why, nobody. That’s what I told the judge, and when Mr. Peyton got angry and said you had persuaded me to do it, I told him he was wrong. Then the judge stopped him from speaking and asked me about the matter and I told him. Then he said very nice things about you, and said you were to be my guardian, and then he told me I might go home and I thanked him and said good day, and Col. Majors escorted us to the carriage. I wonder why Mr. Peyton was so angry about it. He seems to have been very anxious to be my guardian. I wonder why?” “I wonder, too,” said Arthur, to whom of course the secret of Peyton’s concern with Dorothy’s affairs was a mystery. He had not been present on the occasion when Peyton entered his protest against the girl’s reading, nor had any one told him of the occurrence. Neither had he heard of Peyton’s visit to Aunt Polly on the occasion of the outbreak of fever. He therefore knew of no reason for Peyton’s desire to intermeddle in Dorothy’s affairs, beyond his well known disposition to do the like with everybody’s concerns. But Arthur had grown used to the thought of mystery in everything that related to Dorothy. Presently the girl said, “I’m going to write a note to Mr. Peyton, now, and send it over by Dick.” “What for, Dorothy?” “Oh, I want to tell him how wrong and wicked he is when he says you persuaded me to do this.” “Did he say that?” “Yes, I told you so before, but you weren’t paying attention. Perhaps you were thinking about the poor sick people, so I’ll forgive you and you needn’t apologize. I must run away now and write my note.” “Please don’t, Dorothy.” “But why not?” “He will say I persuaded you to do that, too. It would embarrass me very seriously if you should send him any note now.” Dorothy was quick to see this aspect of the matter, though without suggestion it would never have occurred to her extraordinarily simple and candid mind. It was not long after Dorothy left him when Edmonia Bannister made her daily visit to the fever camp, accompanied by her maid and bearing delicacies for the sick. After her visit to Dorothy’s quarters Arthur engaged her in conversation. He told her of what had happened, and expressed his repugnance to the task thus laid upon him.