shoulder, and was comforting him in a lan-
guage I had not heard for a long while. When
I stopped my horses opposite them, the older
boy took his brother by the hand and came
toward me. He, too, looked grave. This was
evidently a sad afternoon for them.

"Are you Mrs. Cuzak's boys?" I asked.

The younger one did not look up; he was
submerged in his own feelings, but his brother
met me with intelligent gray eyes. "Yes,
sir."

"Does she live up there on the hill? I am
going to see her. Get in and ride up with me."

He glanced at his reluctant little brother.
"I guess we'd better walk. But we'll open
the gate for you."

I drove along the side-road and they fol-
lowed slowly behind. When I pulled up at
the windmill, another boy, barefooted and
curly-headed, ran out of the barn to tie my
team for me. He was a handsome one, this
chap, fair-skinned and freckled, with red
cheeks and a ruddy pelt as thick as a lamb's
wool, growing down on his neck in little tufts.
He tied my team with two flourishes of his
hands, and nodded when I asked him if his
mother was at home. As he glanced at me, his

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p371 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p372w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p373

v?