having a good time here?" the judge began.

"O, splendid!"

"And you are almost well, aren't you?"

"Almost well," Jim assented, a little shadow of anxiety creeping into
the gray eyes.

"Let me see--how many days have you been here?"

Jim answered instantly, "Nine. I've got five more," this last very
soberly.

"Five more?" the judge questioned.

Jim nodded gravely. "Miss Laura said I could stay here two weeks, you
know."

"Oh! And then what--back to the hospital?"

"O no!" Jim was very positive about that. "No, I don't know where I'll
be after the five days. I--I kind o' wish I did. It would be--settleder,
you know. But," his face brightening, "but of course, it will be a nice
place, because Miss Laura said she'd find me a good home somewhere, and
she don't ever forget her promises. And besides, I'm going to be her boy
just the same when I go away from here--she promised that too."

The judge nodded, his eyes studying the small earnest face.

"Miss Laura must find that good home right away," he said. "Of course
you want to know where you are going."

"I hope she'll be the kind that likes boys," Jim said after a thoughtful
pause. "Do you think she will?"

"Who?"

"The woman in that good home. They don't all, you know. Some of 'em
think boys are dreadful noisy and bothering, and some think they eat too
much. I eat a lot sometimes----" he ended with an anxious frown.

The judge found it necessary just then to put his hand over his eyes. He
muttered something about the light hurting them, and then Laura came in
and told Jim it was bedtime. He said good-night, holding out his small
stubby hand. The judge's big one grasped it and held it a moment.

"We had a nice talk, didn't we?" Jim said, and with the smile that made
his homely little face radiant for a moment, he added, "It sure is nice
to talk with a _man_," and he went off wondering what the judge was
laughing about.

He was not laughing when Laura came downstairs again after tucking up
the boy in bed. She so hated to turn out the light and leave him in the
dark, but she always did it. Now she told her father what Jim had said
about that the first night.

The judge made no comment, but after a moment he remarked, "The boy is
rather worried about the home you are to find for him. It ought to be
settled. Have you any place in view?"

"No. To tell the truth, father, I can't bear to have him go away. Would
you mind if I keep him here a while longer?