"Tramps, indeed!" muttered Simeon Holly, under his breath. Then,
sharply: "Did you never perform any useful labor, boy? Were your
days always spent in this ungodly idleness?"

Again David frowned in mild wonder.

"Oh, I wasn't idle, sir. Father said I must never be that. He
said every instrument was needed in the great Orchestra of Life;
and that I was one, you know, even if I was only a little boy.
And he said if I kept still and didn't do my part, the harmony
wouldn't be complete, and--"

"Yes, yes, but never mind that now, boy," interrupted Simeon
Holly, with harsh impatience. "I mean, did he never set you to
work--real work?"

"Work?" David meditated again. Then suddenly his face cleared.
"Oh, yes, sir, he said I had a beautiful work to do, and that it
was waiting for me out in the world. That's why we came down from
the mountain, you know, to find it. Is that what you mean?"

"Well, no," retorted the man, "I can't say that it was. I was
referring to work--real work about the house. Did you never do
any of that?"

David gave a relieved laugh.

"Oh, you mean getting the meals and tidying up the house," he
replied. "Oh, yes, I did that with father, only"--his face grew