CHAPTER XV. 

BERT COMES BACK. 

One raw March evening, when the wind was roaring among the gray branches of the maples like a lion in wrath, some one knocked on the door. 

"Come in!" shouted Anson, who was giving baby her regular ride on his boots. 

"Come in!" added Flaxen. 

Gearheart walked in slowly, closed the door behind his back, and stood devouring the cheerful scene. He was poorly dressed and wore a wide, limp hat; they did not know him till he bared his head. 

"Bert!" yelled Anson, tossing the baby to his shoulder and leaping toward his chum, tramping and shaking and clapping like a madman, scaring the child. 

"My gosh-all-hemlock! I'm glad to see ye! Gimme that paw again. Come to the fire. This is Flaxie" (as though he had not had his eyes on her face all the time). "Be'n sick?" 

Bert's hollow cough prompted this question. 

"Yes. Had some kind of a fever down in Arizony. Oh, I'm all right now," he added in reply to an anxious look from Flaxen. 

"An' this is----" 

"Baby--Elsie," she replied, putting a finishing touch to the little one's dress, mother-like. 

"Where's he?" he asked a little later. 

Anson replied with a little gesture, which silenced Bert at the same time that it explained. And when Flaxen was busy a few moments later, Anson said: 

"Gone up the spout." 

At the table they grew quite gay, talking over old times, and Bert's pale face grew rosier, catching a reflection of the happy faces opposite. 
Who had a baby?
Who was not dressed well?
Was he wearing a something on his head?
What?
Did they recognize him at first?
At what point did they know it was him?
What was the baby's name?
And what was she wearing?
Was Bert's face tanned?
Was the mood as they spoke at the table happy?
Did more than one person say, "Come in" at the beginning?
Who said it?
Was the story set in the month of May?
What month?
Did Gearheart leave the door open?
What was Gearheart's first name?
Had Bert been ill?
How?
In what state?
Did Anson frighten the baby when he saw Bert?
Anson
 shouted Anson, who was giving baby her regular ride on his boots
Gearheart
Gearheart walked in slowly, closed the door behind his back, and stood devouring the cheerful scene. He was poorly dressed
yes
wore a wide, limp ha
wide, limp hat
wide, limp ha
no
they did not know him till he bared his head
when he bared his head
till he bared his head
Elsie
Baby--Elsie
dress
dress
unknown
unknown
yes
At the table they grew quite gay
yes
"Come in!" shouted Anson, who was giving baby her regular ride on his boots. 

"Come in!" added Flaxen. 

Anson and Flaxen
Anson
no
One raw March evening
March
One raw March evening
no
closed the door behind his back
Bert
Bert
"Yes
"Yes. Had some kind of a fever down in Arizony
Had some kind of a fever
Had some kind of a fever down in Arizony
Arizony
in Arizony
yes
scaring the child