Sarah sat down on the nearest seat, which was the lower end of the settle on which Albert lay. She wiped her hot face on her gingham apron, then laid her hand on Albert's stubby little shoes, as though she needed something to hold to. "Don't," commanded Uncle Daniel. "You wake him up if you don't look a little out." Sarah's eyes flashed. As though she would wake him, her own baby, whom she had tended for three years! She wanted to tell them to go, to leave her alone with her children. But again she was wisely silent. She did not know yet what it was that her uncle meant to "fix up." Swartz pulled his chair a little closer to the table. He looked uncomfortable in his black suit and his stiff collar. Occasionally he slipped his finger behind it and pulled it away from his throat, as though it were too tight. It seemed as if his remarks were for the benefit of Sarah alone, even though he did not look at her, for Aunt Mena and Aunt 'Liza and the hired man helped him out with an occasional word as if they knew beforehand what he meant to say. He, too, had his dreams. One was to see a son in his house; another was to see the Wenner farm once more united to his own as it had been in his father's lifetime. Then he would have the old border on the creek. There was also talk of the strange, new "electricity cars" running along the creek. That would double the value of the farm. But he said nothing of this in his speech to Sarah. "A couple of years back," he began, "I made an offer to Wenner. I said to him, 'I will take William and bring him up right, and then he can have the farm when I am no longer here.' That is what I said to your pop. But he wouldn't have it. He had to send William instead to school." "Then what did he get for his schooling?" asked Jacob Kalb. "I never had no schooling," said Uncle Daniel. "And you see where I am. Nobody needs schooling but preachers and teachers." "I don't believe in schooling," said Aunt Eliza. "Nor I," said Aunt Mena. Sarah's eyes continued to flash, but she said nothing. She knew that they were expressing their scorn for her father's judgment, but she was too tired to answer. If they would only go home! She saw her uncle look at little Albert. He need not think she would give him up. Sarah almost laughed at the idea. Then she heard that her uncle had begun to speak again. "Well, now I have another offer to make. Mena will take Ellie and Weezy. I will take Albert. He shall be Albert Swartz from now on. And Sarah can come also to us to help to work." "You will have to be a good little girl and work right," admonished Aunt 'Liza. "And you will have a good home," put in Jacob Kalb. "You and the zwillings (twins)." There were times when Jacob's English vocabulary was not equal to the demands upon it. Sarah's pale cheeks grew a little whiter. But Uncle Daniel had said it was an _offer_. An offer could be declined.