"You see it is this way," said Sarah. "He wanted always the farm. It was once all my gran'pop's farm. He wanted my pop and mom should move away and sell it to him once. Now he won't have it that we keep it like my pop said we should. The twins shall live by Aunt Mena, and Albert and I shall live by him, and we won't have no home any more, and--" Miss Miflin laid a hand on Sarah's knee. "We didn't mean to trouble you with all this," she said gently. "I just wanted to know what we should do, to whom we should go. I thought that if Daniel Swartz hadn't been made guardian yet, perhaps there was some way of stopping it, and you could tell us to what official we should apply." "There would have to be a hearing before the judge, and their uncle would have to be notified, so that he could defend himself," answered the gentleman slowly. He looked down once more at Sarah and the twins. "They are pretty young to be looking after themselves," he said. "I am fifteen years old," said Sarah. "And if they would take the farm and only leave me raise chickens I can get along." The stranger's eyes met Miss Miflin's. "She is a very capable little girl," said Miss Miflin. Then the twins, who had marveled at the "electricity cars" and the tall buildings, were still further astonished. The gentleman got up and crossed the room, and took down a little horn which was hanging against the wall. Then he began to talk. The twins' mouths opened involuntarily. "Is this the clerk's office? Can you get Weaver and his client--" He turned to Sarah. "What did you say the uncle's name is? Swartz? Oh yes--Can you get Weaver and Swartz here for a hearing this afternoon? They're in the court-house now? Oh, very well. Yes, right away." Then the stranger hung up the little horn once more. He smiled at Miss Miflin and the children. "Would you mind coming to tell the judge what you have told me?" he said. "Will it be in the court-room?" asked Miss Miflin. She grew more and more poignantly conscious of the strangeness of her errand. But this stranger was evidently accustomed to court business and he seemed encouraging. "Oh no. The sessions of the Orphans' Court are held in the judge's office. This way." And he opened a door leading into the next room. Miss Miflin felt Sarah's tight grasp on her arm, and the twins came close behind. This room was much larger than the one they were leaving. There was no carpet on the floor, and no attempt at elegant furniture. At one end was a plain, businesslike desk, and the twenty or thirty chairs which stood about the room were straight and uncushioned. To Miss Miflin's distress, almost every chair was occupied. The stranger frowned a little when he saw the audience. It took a very short time for the news of an interesting case to spread through the court-house.