The girl began to feel quite "grown up." It was all very
wonderful, and she loved Uncle Henry for making things so
pleasant for her.
She had to run to his door and tell him this before she
undressed. He had pulled off his boots and was tramping up and
down the carpeted floor in his thick woolen socks, humming to
himself.
"Taking a constitutional, Nan," he declared. "Haven't had any
exercise for this big body of mine all day. Sitting in that car
has made me as cramped as a bear just crawling out of his den in
the spring."
He did not tell her that had he been alone he would have gone out
and tramped the snowy streets for half the night. But he would
not leave her alone in the hotel. "No, sir," said Uncle Henry.
"Robert would never forgive me if anything happened to his honey-
bird. And fire, or something, might break out here while I was
gone."
He said nothing like this to Nan, however, but kissed her good
night and told her she should always bid him good night in just
that way as long as she was at Pine Camp.
"For Kate and I have never had a little girl," said the big
lumberman, "and boys get over the kissing stage mighty early, I
find. Kate and I always did hanker for a girl."
"If you owned a really, truly daughter of your own, Uncle Henry,
I believe you'd spoil her to death!" cried Nan, the next morning,
when she came out of the fur shop to which he had taken her.
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