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 the garden. Laurie viewed the trees interestedly, but failed to note anything remarkable, and he turned to his guide for enlightenment. Mr. Starling was selecting two bills from a long black wallet, keeping his back to the others. He thrust the bills into Laurie's hand.

"We'd like to help a little, my sister and I," he said. "Use that in any way you like, Laurie, but you needn't say where it came from. If you need more, let me know."

"But we don't really need it, sir," protested the boy. "We've got twelve dollars, and I don't believe—"

"Put it in your pocket," insisted Mr. Starling. "You can find some way of using it for Miss Comfort's—er—comfort!" He raised his voice. "Look promising, don't they? Lots of fruit this year, I guess. Thomas is quite a gardener, if you take his word for it." He turned Laurie about with a hand on his shoulder and paced back toward the others. "We feel sort of sorry for that little woman," he added, lowering his voice again. "Hard to pull up stakes at her age, I guess. Ought to do what we can for her, Laurie. Come to me again if you need some more."