time to regret her decision. "You are very kind to take me in," he said gratefully, "and my mare, too. She would be worse off at night in the open than I. If you will tell me where the stable is, I will get her under cover immediately. She's too hot to stand."
The woman looked apologetic. "I hate to have you go yourself, but there is no one here now that knows much about horses."
Carron permitted himself a moment's wonder. What about Rader?
She lifted her voice to a penetrative note, calling "Ge—o—o—rge."
A half-grown boy looked out at the door. He had a singularly vacant face. A quantity of dirty clothes were in his hand, an apron was tied around his waist. His occupation had perhaps been that of cleaning windows.
Mrs. Rader went close to him, put her hand on his shoulder and spoke into his eyes as if he had been a deaf person. "George, I want you to show this gentleman over to the barn, wait there, and get him anything he wants.—If you go quite close, and take hold of him, and look at him when you talk," she explained to Carron aside, "he always understands. He knows where everything is."
Preceded by this guide, who, unlike the natural boy, seemed unembarrassed by his feminine gar-
16
