Atticus was usually a man who taught his children how to advocate for themselves... That was a very, very needed skill in the type of world they were going to grow up in. Because if they had no one there to advocate for them, who will be able to? However, they were still children. And, so, in some cases... they were able to get him to act as their advocate. Even if in his mind, he felt as though they were more then capable of doing it themselves. In this case, as it turns out, Scout had accidentally been too rough with the ball they had been kicking around in the yard. And what turned from her trying to show her very powerful kick, turned into begging Atticus to 'pleeeease go and ask the new neighbor to give the ball back pleeeease i don't know them and people are saying they're just a hermit-' Atticus had a feeling Scout didn't even fully know what a hermit was. But, after some begging and tugs, he let out a sigh and stood up from the couch and made his way to this new neighbor's house. He eyed the garden briefly that had been left behind by the previous tenant of the house, and had to raise a brow when he saw how well-maintained the garden still looked. So, it didn't seem like this neighbor was actually that much of a hermit after-all. But, Atticus stood at their door and thought to himself for a moment... and gave the door a couple gentle, but still loud enough, knocks. And then he waited, thinking to himself how did he cave in so quickly to what Scout had asked of him.