Page:Cornelia Meigs--The Pool of Stars.djvu/61

 was saying, "but this one is the newest and it developed so much more power than I expected, that it came near to tearing itself to pieces before you came to my rescue. If it had been wrecked I should have had to begin all over again at the beginning."

"I believe you should not have tried it when you were all alone," commented Betsey sagely. "You should have made sure that some one was within call."

The old man smiled, a gentle smile lit with the warmth of much affection.

"I thought it better to try it when Miranda was not in the house," he answered. "If it had refused to run I did not want any one to know of it. My daughter is always very quick to see when I am disappointed, and I do not like to give her pain."

He took up a wrench to loosen a bolt but found it jammed and immovable. With ready skill the boy took the tool from him and unscrewed the obstinate nut.

"By the way," questioned the old man, "ought I to remember your name? Have I ever seen you before?"

His confessed absent-mindedness was so disarming that the boy laughed.

"Miss Miranda knows me," he said, "but you have never seen me, at least you have never noticed me. My name is David Warren, and I am staying