"Yes, it is a couple. Sarah--" Uncle Daniel counted them off on his fingers. The lawyer's abrupt speech startled him, and he was afraid he might forget. "How old?" "She is fifteen, but she is little. She could not run a farm." "But she thinks she can do everything," put in Jacob Kalb. "She got after me with a gun." The lawyer smiled. He did not take kindly to Jacob Kalb, and it was amusing to think of a fifteen-year-old girl "getting after" him with a gun. "Any others?" "Yes, it is a couple of twins, Weezy and Ellie." "How old?" "About ten. But they are--" "Any others?" "Albert. He is four. He--" "And you want to be appointed guardian of these minor children of your sister?" "Yes, sir." Uncle Daniel blinked. He could not understand the phenomenal quickness of this man's mind. For the next few minutes he continued to blink rapidly. "Your name? Your occupation? The value of the property of these minors?" Question followed question so fast that Uncle Daniel could hardly think. "You will have to sign a bond for the amount of the property, you know. Your application will be sent to the Orphans' Court. Come back in a month. The retaining fee will be twenty-five dollars." Then Uncle Daniel got his breath. "Twenty-five dollars! Twenty-five dollars for what?" "For making application to the Orphans' Court. Wasn't that what you wanted me to do?" "Y-yes, b-but twenty-five dollars for writing out a couple of papers! Twenty--" The lawyer swung round to his desk. Daniel realized suddenly that the lawyer did not care whether he got the case or not. He became all the more anxious to have this remarkable man continue it. Sarah might in some way make trouble. "All right," he stammered. "We will come in a month back again. We--" The lawyer flung him a crumb of comfort. "You will be reimbursed, of course, from the estate," he said; and Uncle Daniel's face brightened. He did not realize that in thus putting himself into the hands of the law, he would place over his own actions a guardian to whom he should some day have to give an account of his stewardship. In Uncle Daniel's mind, he was to be, after the month was up, supreme arbiter of the fates of the Wenners,--Sarah and Albert and the twins alike, and of their property. He meant to be honest. Even though he did take the farm, he would support them, Sarah and Albert at his own home, and the twins at Aunt Mena's. Only, if Sarah did not behave, she would have to go out to work. There was triumph in every motion of Uncle Daniel's broad, heavy shoulders, as he went down the steps. He had began to think that education was a good thing for lawyers, also. It must be pleasant to get twenty-five dollars for writing a few words. At a store at the corner, he bought five cents' worth of peanuts and a small bag of candy. Then they started home, drawing rein first at the Ebert farm. Ebert appeared in response to a loud hulloa. He wondered why Swartz was stopping at his gate.