"But suppose someone else doesn't wait and she gets snapped up before your eyes--what then?" But wait he felt he must, and in the meantime Helen often felt that his sternness meant disapproval and wondered what she had done to merit it--that is, what new thing. Of course she always knew she had merited his disapproval by her behavior when he had given the verdict that her father must go off on the voyage for health. And now when he said: "What makes you think he is still so badly off?" he sounded very stern and superior. "He seems so--so--meek," she faltered. "Well, who would not be meek with all those parcels?" he laughed. "Your mother had only part of a day in New York, but she bought out the town. I'm meek myself." The conversation was interrupted by Lucy, who was always eager to find out what Helen was doing so she could do it too. When she saw her sister's tear-stained countenance she bitterly regretted her dry eyes but cry she could not, especially as she did not see anything to cry about. Mrs. Carter, meanwhile, after flitting from daughter to daughter, had cried out: "But Bobby! Where is my precious Bobby?" "Here me!" said that youngster. "We uns ain't fur." "Bobby! Bobby! I didn't know you! Where are your teeth? Why did you have your hair cut so short? My baby, my baby!" and the poor little lady enfolded a rather abashed boy in her arms. "Baby your grandmother! I ain't nobody's baby. We uns is Dr. Wright's shover cept'n when we uns is in the mountings and thin we uns is the 'spressman's sisterant." "We uns? What do you mean, Bobby?" wailed the mother. "I say we uns whenever we uns thinks to do it. That's the way mountingyears talks." "Robert! Robert, look at Bobby and listen to him!" Mr. Carter did look at Bobby and the remembrance of his own boyhood came back to him and he laughed as he seldom did now-a-days. "Well, bless my soul, what a great big son I have got!" and he slapped Bobby on the back. "I fancy you are too big to kiss, you rascal!" "I ain't too big to kiss if you uns comes behind the station where Josh'n Josephus can't see us," and Bobby led his willing parent behind the station where Helen had gone to shed a bitter tear and where Dr. Wright had discovered her and where Lucy had discovered them. "Oh, shucks! They's too many folks here," he declared. "Will all of you please step out of the way?" begged Mr. Carter. "Bobby has an important thing to discuss with me and we should like the back of the station to ourselves for a moment." Left alone, the big man held his little son tight in his arms and in spite of Bobby's boasted manhood he was very happy to be once more hugged and kissed by his father. Dr. Wright smiled into Helen's reddened eyes and said: "Bobby will do more for your father than anyone else now. If he can be a boy again he will get entirely well." The many parcels were at last stowed away in the cart and Josh clucked sadly to Josephus.