"Because if they meant THIEVES--" "No, no, David," interrupted Mrs.Holly soothingly.

"They never meant thieves at all." "Then, what is it to be a tramp ?" "Why, it's just to--to tramp," explained Mrs.Holly desperately;--"walk along the road from one town to another, and--and not live in a house at all." "Oh!" David's face cleared.

"That's all right, then.

I'd love to be a tramp, and so'd father.

And we were tramps, sometimes, too, 'cause lots of times, in the summer, we didn't stay in the cabin hardly any--just lived out of doors all day and all night.