"I was never half so original and daring as he is," Theodora said
regretfully. "My iniquities were trite; his are fresh from the recesses
of his own brain. He is a cunning child, Hu, and a pretty one; but his
ways are past finding out, and--"

"And, as I said, he favors his Aunt Teddy," her husband interposed.

Theodora decided to change the subject.

"How is Allyn?" she asked.

Hubert's face sobered.

"He is well."

"Is anything the matter with the boy?" Theodora demanded, for Allyn had
always been her own especial charge, and her marriage had made no break
in their relations. Allyn's home was as much at the corner house as at
The Savins.

"No; only the world goes hard with him. He has needed you, Teddy. The
rest of us rub him the wrong way. He has a queer streak in him. I wish I
could get hold of him; but I can't."

"It is the cross-grained age," Theodora said thoughtfully. "He will come
out all right."

"Perhaps; but meanwhile he is having a bad time of it, for he can't get
on with any of the boys. He lords it over them, and then resents it and