"I see! You game little kid, you," said Mickey. "All right Mary, you ask your mother and if she says so, I'll show you how, and maybe you can rub Lily's feet, if you go slow and easy and don't jar her back a speck." "Ma said I could a-ready," explained Mary. "Ma said for me to! She said all of us would, all the time we had while you were away, so she'd get better faster. Ma said she'd give a hundred dollars if Peaches would get so she could walk here." Mickey sat back on his heels suddenly. "Who'd she say that to?" he demanded. "Pa. And he said he'd give five hundred." "Aw-a-ah!" marvelled Mickey. "He did too!" insisted Mary. "This morning 'fore you came out. And Junior would too. He'd give all in his bank! And he'd rub too! He said he would." "Well, if you ain't the nicest folks!" cried Mickey. "Gee, I'm glad I found you!" "Jus' as glad!" chimed in Peaches. "Mary bring Robert here!" called Mrs. Harding from the hall. Mary obeyed. Mickey moved up and looked intently at Peaches. "Well Lily," he asked, "what do you _think_ of this?" "I wouldn't trade this for Heaven!" she answered. "The country is all the Heaven a-body needs, in June." "Mickey, bring in the cow now!" ordered Peaches. "Bring in the cow?" queried Mickey. "Sure, the little red cow in the book that makes the milk. I want you to milk her right here on my bed!" "Well, if I ever!" gasped Mickey. "Sure, I'll bring her in a minute; but a cow is big, Lily! Awful, great big. I couldn't bring her in here; but maybe I can drive her where you can see, or I don't know what would be the harm in taking you where the cows are. But first, one thing! Now you look right at me, Miss Chicken. There's something I got to _know_ if you got in your head _straight_. Who found you, and kept them from 'getting' you?" "Mickey-lovest," replied Peaches promptly. "Then who d'you belong to?" he demanded. "Mickey!" she answered instantly. "Who you got to do as I say?" he continued. "Mickey," she repeated. "Whose _family_ are you?" he pursued. "Mickey's!" she cried. "Mickey, what's the matter? Mickey, I love you best. I'm all yours. Mickey, I'll go back an' never say a word 'bout the hotness, or the longness, or anything, if you don't _want_ me here." "Well I do want you here," said Mickey in slow insistent tone. "I want you right here! But you got to _understand_ a few things. You're mine. I'm going to keep you; you got to understand that." "Yes Mickey," conceded Peaches. "And if it will help you to be rubbed more than I can rub you while I got to earn money to pay for our supper when we go home, and fix your back, and save for the seminary, I'll let the nice pleasant lady rub you; and I'll let a good girl like Mary rub you, and if his hands ain't so big they hurt, maybe I'll let Peter rub you; he takes care of Bobbie, maybe he could you, and he's got a family of his own, so he knows how it feels; but it's _nix_ on anybody else, Miss Chicken, see?"