little
one. Madam Beaubien hasn't been treated right, either. And--"

"There!" she laughed, holding up a warning finger. "We're going to
forget that in the good we're going to do, aren't we?"

"Yes, that's so. And you are going to get a square deal. Now, I've got
a plan to make everything right. I want to see you in the place that
belongs to you. I want to see you happy, and surrounded by all that is
rightfully yours. And if you will join me, we will bring that all
about. I told you this once before, you may remember."

He stopped and awaited the effect of his words upon the girl.

"But, Mr. Ames," she replied, her eyes shining with a great hope,
"don't think about me! It's the people at Avon that I want to help."

"We'll help them, you and I. We'll make things right all round. And
Madam Beaubien shall have no further trouble. Nor shall the Express."

"Oh, Mr. Ames! Do you really mean it? And--Sidney?"

"Sidney shall come home--"

With a rush the impulsive girl, forgetting all but the apparent
success of her mission, threw herself upon him and clasped her arms
about his neck. "Oh," she cried, "it is love that has done all this!
And it has won you!"

The startled man strained the girl tightly in his arms. He could feel
the quick throbbing in her throat. Her warm breath played upon his
cheek like fitful tropic breezes. For a brief moment the supreme gift
of the universe seemed to be laid at his feet. For a fleeting interval
the man of dust faded, and a new being, pure and white, seemed to rise
within him.

"Yes," he murmured gently, "we'll take him to our home with us."

Slowly, very slowly, the girl released herself from his embrace and
stepped back. "With--_us_?" she murmured, searching his face for the
meaning which she had dimly discerned in his words.

"Yes--listen!" He reached forward and with a quick movement seized her
hand. "Listen, little girl. I want you--I want you! Not now--no, you
needn't come to me until you are ready. But say that you will come!
Say that! Why, I didn't know until to-day what it was that was making
me over! It's you! Don't go! Don't--"

Carmen had struggled away from him, and, with a look of bewilderment
upon her face, was moving toward the door. "Oh, I didn't know," she
murmured, "that you were--were--proposing _marriage_ to me!"

"Don't you understand?" he pursued. "We'll just make all things new!
We'll begin all over again, you and I! Why, I'll do anything--anything
in t