"Not for so mery long." Leigh could not master the V of the alphabet yet. "'Cause I'm going away pretty soon, Miss Jane say. You know my mamma's dead." The little face was very grave now. "And my Uncle Jim out in Kansas wants me. I'm going to him." Even in her innocence, Doctor Carey noted the very definite tone and clear trend of the young mind. "Miss Jane loves me and I love her," Leigh explained further. "Don't you love Miss Jane, Horace?" "Certainly," Carey said, with some hesitancy. "I'll tell her so. She will love you, too. She is mery sweet," Leigh assured him. "Where are you going to?" "I'm going back to Kansas soon." "Wim me?" "I should like to. Let's go together." Leigh slid quickly from the chair and ran inside, where Doctor Carey heard her clear childish voice saying, "He is going to Kansas, too, Miss Jane. He says he loves you. His name is Horace, and he's mery nice. He's not mery pretty, though, but you love him, too, don't you, Miss Jane?" Evidently the child was close to Miss Jane, for the doctor heard something like a kiss and low words that seemed to send her away on some errand. Presently he caught sight of a sunny head and two big blue eyes and a little hand beckoning to him, as Leigh peeped around the corner of the house. "Miss Jane says I mustn't talk too much and mustn't call you Horace, but just Doctor Carey. Won't you come with me to get flowers for supper?" The two strolled together into the old flower garden where verbenas and phlox and late asters and early chrysanthemums and a few monthly roses under Miss Jane's careful covering had weathered the first frosts. Leigh knew each plant and shrub, and gave out information freely. "Would you rather stay with Miss Jane?" Doctor Carey knew he should not ask the question, but it came anyhow. "Oh, no, I want to go to my Uncle Jim." Leigh settled the matter once for all. * * * * * That night Leigh fell asleep early, for Miss Jane was methodical with children. Then she and Doctor Carey sat until late by the open wood fire and talked of many things, but first of Leigh and her future. "You will miss her, I'm sure," the doctor said. "More than anyone will know," Miss Jane replied. "But I could not be happy without fulfilling my promise. I wrote you to come soon because each day makes the giving up a little harder for me. But I must know the truth about this Uncle Jim. I cannot send Leigh out of my house to be neglected and unloved. She demands love above all things." The pink color deepened in Miss Jane's fair cheek as she recalled what Leigh had said to Doctor Carey about loving her. The doctor remembered also, and knew why she blushed. Yet blushes, he thought, were becoming to her. "I'll tell you all I know of Mr. Shirley. We have been friends for many years," he said.