world. Don't you remember? And he said I was not to want to go
back to my mountains; that I would not need to, anyway, because
the mountains, and the sky, and the birds and squirrels and
brooks are really in my violin, you know. And--" But with an
angry frown Simeon Holly stalked away, motioning Larson
to follow him; and with a merry glance and a low chuckle Higgins
turned his horse about and drove from the yard. A moment later
David found himself alone with Mrs. Holly, who was looking at him
with wistful, though slightly fearful eyes.

"Did you have all the breakfast you wanted?" she asked timidly,
resorting, as she had resorted the night before, to the everyday
things of her world in the hope that they might make this strange
little boy seem less wild, and more nearly human.

"Oh, yes, thank you." David's eyes had strayed back to the note
in his hand. Suddenly he looked up, a new something in his eyes.
"What is it to be a--a tramp?" he asked. "Those men said daddy
and I were tramps."

"A tramp? Oh--er--why, just a--a tramp," stammered Mrs. Holly.
"But never mind that, David. I--I wouldn't think any more about
it."

"But what is a tramp?" persisted David, a smouldering fire
beginning to show in his eyes. "Because if they meant THIEVES--"

"No, no, David," interrupted Mrs. Holly soothingly. "They never
meant thieves at all."