"Oh what a little casuist you are. But we haven't settled the other question—are you going to love me?"
"I can't tell right away;" reluctantly.
"Well, I am going to love you. You are all the little girl I have."
"But you have all the other people."
He laughed good-naturedly. She was very amusing in her unreason. And unlike most children he had seen she held her love rather high.
"I shall get a horse," he said, "and you will ride with me. And when the spring fairly comes in we will take walks and find wild flowers and watch the birds as they go singing about. Maybe I can think up some stories to tell you. I am going to be very good to you for I want you to love me."
She seemed to consider. Then she saw grandad, who had a little squirrel in his hands. Some of them were very tame, so she ran to look at it.
"A queer little thing," said the father to himself.
CHAPTER IV
OLD PITTSBURG
Spring came with a rush. Barbe Carrick glanced out of the south window one morning and called her little girl.