"So Miss Fletcher doesn't care to come and lunch in my yard," he remarked.
"No," returned Hazel, pausing and regarding him. "She says she used to know you well enough to spank you, too."
Mr. Badger laughed. "She certainly did."
"Then error must have crept in," said the little girl, "that she doesn't know you now."
"I used to think it had, when she got after me."
The child observed his laughing face wistfully, "She didn't know how to handle it in mind, did she?"
"Not much. A slipper was good enough for her."
"Well, I don't see what's the matter," said Hazel.
"'Tisn't necessary, little one. You go on having a good time. Everything will come out all right some day."
As Mr. Badger spoke he little knew what activity was taking place in his aunt's thought. Her heart had been touched by the surprising arrival and sympathy of her namesake, and her conscience had been awakened by the array of golden words from the Bible which she had not studied much during late bitter years. The story of the Quest Flower, falling upon her softened heart, seemed to hold for her a special meaning.