to please myself about Billy. Hasn't she always done just as she chose so far as you know? Honest, Elnora!"
"Honest!" replied Elnora. "You are beautiful to all of us, Uncle Wesley; but Aunt Margaret won't like Billy. She won't want him in her home."
"In our home," corrected Sinton.
"What makes you want him?" marvelled Elnora.
"God only knows," said Sinton. "Billy ain't so beautiful, and he ain't so smart; I guess it's because he's so human. My heart goes out to him."
"So did mine," said Elnora. "I love him. I'd rather see him eat my lunch than have it myself any time."
"What makes you like him?" asked Sinton.
"Why, I don't know," pondered Elnora. "He's so little, he needs so much, he's got such splendid grit, and he's perfectly unselfish with his brother and sister. But we must wash him before Aunt Margaret sees him. I wonder if mother?"
"You needn't bother. I'm going to take him home the way he is," said Sinton. "I want Maggie to see the worst of it."
"I'm afraid" began Elnora.
"So am I," said Sinton, "but I won't give him up. He's taken a sort of grip on my heart. I've always been crazy for a boy. Don't let him hear us."
"Don't let him get killed!" cried Elnora. During their talk Billy had wandered to the edge of the walk and barely escaped the wheels of a passing automobile in an effort to catch a stray kitten that seemed in danger.
