ther for an instant. "My word, Mrs.
Burns--he's the stuff that heroes are made of! His living to earn for
the rest of his life--with one arm--and you'd think he'd lost the tip of
one finger. If ever I let that boy go out of my employ--why, he's worth
more as a shining example of pluck than other men are worth with two
good arms!"

"I must go and see him--if he'd care to have me."

"He'd take it as the honour of his life. He's crazy over the flowers you
sent him."

"Would he care for books? And what sort? I'm going to bring both of you
books."

"Stories of adventure will suit Aleck--the wilder the better. Odd
choice--for such a peaceable-looking fellow, isn't it? As for
me--something I'll have to work hard to listen to, something to keep an
edge on my mind. I've counted the cracks in the ceiling till I have a
map of them by heart. I've worked out a system by which I can drain that
ceiling country and raise crops there. There isn't much else in this
room that I can count or lay out--worse luck! So I've named all the
roses, and have wagers with myself as to which will fade first. I'm
betting on Susquehanna, that big red one, to outlast all the rest."

* * * * *

When Red Pepper looked in half an hour later, it was to find the door
open between the two rooms, and his wife listening, smiling, to an
incident of the night just past, as told by first one patient and then
the other. The two young men might have been two comrades lying beside a
campfire, so gay was their jesting with each other, so light their
treatment of the wakeful hours both had spent.

"No, there's nothing the matter with either of them," observed Burns,
looking from one bedside to the other. "Franz is the chap with the heavy
heart; these two are just enjoying a summer holiday. But I'm not going
to keep the communication open long at a time, as yet."

He went in to see Aleck, closing the door again. When he returned he
took up a position at the foot of King's bed, regarding him in silence.
Ellen looked up at her husband. There was something in his face which
had not been there of late--a curiously bright look, as if a cloud were
lifted. She studied him intently, and when he returned the scrutiny she
raised her eyebrows in an interrogation. He nodded, smiling quizzically.

"Jord," he said, "if you want to keep your secrets to yourself, beware
of letting any woman come within range. My wife has just read me as if I
wer