"I won't talk about any pig but my darling Bony," declared Sarah. "I won't get queer talking about him." CHAPTER XIII THE GAY FAMILY As Richard had foreseen, the Willis girls formed the habit of wandering over to the Gay farm nearly every day. Rosemary liked Louisa and the taciturn Alec, and the younger children were companionable in age and tastes for Sarah and Shirley. It was Warren who explained something of the conditions under which the Gay children worked and lived, one evening when the girls were in bed and Winnie was busy setting bread in the kitchen. Warren treasured these rare half hours on the porch with Mrs. Willis and he had once declared to Richard that ten minutes' uninterrupted conversation with "Rosemary's mother" could make him forget the hardest and longest day. "The way I figure it out," said Warren, his lean, brown face showing earnest lines even in the shaded light from the porch lamp, "the way I figure it, Mrs. Willis, the Gays will help Rosemary and Sarah and Shirley and they will certainly help them. Alec is fifteen and Louisa is just Rosemary's age--and yet they have the burden of supporting and bringing up four younger children." "And my girls have such a happy, sheltered life," struck in Mrs. Willis. "Yes, Warren, I can see what you mean; it won't hurt them to learn of the existence of poverty and hard work. But what happened to the parents of these children?" "They died a couple of years ago--within three months of each other, I believe," said Warren. "All they left was these few acres--sixty, I think Alec told me. There's a mortgage and most of the stock has been sold off--Alec does wonders for his age, but he can't get the work done alone. I helped him some last year and I'd help him more, but he is too proud to take much." "But they can't go on like this," Mrs. Willis protested. "It is unthinkable--to allow six children to struggle alone for a living on a barren little farm. Doesn't anyone take an interest in them--the Hildreths or any of the people who live near and who knew their father and mother?" Warren settled deeper into his comfortable chair. "If the house burned down, I suppose they'd be taken in by some of the neighbors," he said a trifle bitterly. "Or if they all came down with the plague, someone might drop in to offer advice. But either of these calamities would have to happen in winter at that, to attract attention; the farmers of this community can't be disturbed in summer when they're up to their elbows in work." "You don't mean that, Warren," the little lady opposite him smiled confidently.