"No! no! not that kind of takin', little un; 'tother kind, like when you take med'cine. S'pose he kind o' made believe _'twas_ med'cine for a spell. Then s'pose he got so he warn't jest like himself, and spoke kind o' sharp, and took a strap to the boy now and then, harder than he would by natur', you wouldn't blame him, would you? Not a mite! But s'pose things went on that way till they warn't real agreeable for neither one of 'em. Then--s'pose one night--when he warn't himself, mind you!--he shook out his pipe on the settin'-room carpet and set the house afire. You wouldn't blame him for that either, would you? Poor father!" He paused. "What do you s'pose then?" cried the child eagerly. "Did the house burn up?" Calvin made a silent gesture toward the ruined cellar. Something in it struck the child silent too. She crept nearer, and slid her hand into Calvin's. "You don't s'pose they was burned, do you?" she said in an awestruck whisper. "No, they warn't burned," said Calvin slowly. "But father never helt his head up again, and 'twarn't a great while before he was gone too, after mother and the little gal. So then the boy was left alone. See?" "_Poor_ brown boy!" said the child. "S'pose what he did then!" "S'pose he lit out!" said Calvin Parks; "And s'pose I light out too, little gal. It's gettin' towards sundown, and I've got quite a ways to go before night." He rose, and stretched his brown length, towering a great height above the rose-bush. "But before I go," he added; "s'pose we see what hossy's got in back of him. I shouldn't wonder a mite if we found a stick of candy. S'pose we go and look!" "S'pose we do!" cried Mittie May. CHAPTER IX CANDY-MAKING "If there's a pleasanter place than this in your village, I wish you'd show it to me!" said Calvin Parks. "I declare, Mr. Cheeseman, it does me good every time I come in here." Mr. Cheeseman looked about him with contented eyes. "It is pleasant," he said. "I'm glad you like it, friend Parks, for you are one of the folks I like to see in it, and them isn't everybody."