ought to know he was there."

"Yes, of course. Well, tell her to tell him to come back."

"Mollie said she tried to have him come back, but that he said,
no, thank you, he'd rather not. He was going home where his
father could find him if he should ever want him. Mr. Higgins,
we--we CAN'T let him go off like that. Why, the child would die
up there alone in those dreadful woods, even if he could get
there in the first place--which I very much doubt."

"Yes, of course, of course," muttered Higgins, with a thoughtful
frown. "There's his letter, too. Say!" he added, brightening,
"what'll you bet that letter won't fetch him? He seems to think
the world and all of his daddy. Here," he directed, turning to
Mrs. Holly, "you tell my wife to tell--better yet, you telephone
Mollie yourself, please, and tell her to tell the boy we've got a
letter here for him from his father, and he can have it if he'll
come back.".

"I will, I will," called Mrs. Holly, over her shoulder, as she
hurried into the house. In an unbelievably short time she was
back, her face beaming.

"He's started, so soon," she nodded. "He's crazy with joy, Mollie
said. He even left part of his breakfast, he was in such a hurry.
So I guess we'll see him all right."

"Oh, yes, we'll see him all right," echoed Simeon Holly grimly.
"But that isn't telling what we'll do with him when we do see