gether; seemed a little surprised that I should
think it necessary to mention this. "Every-
body liked her, didn't they? The Harlings and
your grandmother, and all the town people."

"Sometimes," I ventured, "it doesn't
occur to boys that their mother was ever
young and pretty."

"Oh, we know!" they said again, warmly.
"She's not very old now," Ambrosch added.
"Not much older than you."

"Well," I said, "if you weren't nice to her,
I think I'd take a club and go for the whole
lot of you. I couldn't stand it if you boys
were inconsiderate, or thought of her as if
she were just somebody who looked after you.
You see I was very much in love with your
mother once, and I know there's nobody like
her."

The boys laughed and seemed pleased and
embarrassed. "She never told us that," said
Anton. "But she's always talked lots about
you, and about what good times you used to
have. She has a picture of you that she cut
out of the Chicago paper once, and Leo says
he recognized you when you drove up to the
windmill. You can't tell about Leo, though;
sometimes he likes to be smart."

[[390]]

p389 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p390w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p391

v?