eave unsaid. "Well, it's a rather peculiar story, Pert, although
it all happened naturally enough," he answered, after a little time.
"I went up to Little Rock a few weeks ago to see a party on business.
I found when I got there that he had gone to Hot Springs, and so I
followed him over there. I wound up the business in a couple of days,
but, as long as I was there, I thought I 'd stay a week or so and take
a few baths.

"Well, one day in the cooling-room I struck up a conversation with the
man lying next to me, and I 'll pledge you my word I never laughed so
much in all my life as I did that morning at our little friend here,
who told me a lot of his hard-luck stories.

"We dressed, and went and had lunch together, and he told me that he
was dead, flat broke. He had been 'bucking the tiger,' and was waiting
to hear from his uncle, to whom he had written for money. I met him
again a few days later, and he told me he had n't heard a word as yet;
that his trunk was in hock at the hotel, and altogether he was in the
deuce of a fix. But he seemed so cheerful about it all that I could
n't help taking a liking to him, and I proposed that he come to
Clarksville with me, and take a job in the store, till he heard from
his uncle, or had saved enough money to get straightened out again. He
jumped at the chance, and I brought him along. He 's a first-class
salesman, and jolly good company; but I 'm afraid he won 't stay with
me much longer; he's getting tired of the place already. I shall be
dreadfully lonesome when he 's gone.

"But heavens, Pert; how lonesome I 've been without you, away at your
school all these months. It seems so good to see you here that I can
scarcely believe my eyes."

"I 'm glad to be back on some accounts, although it grows horribly
stupid here."

"Stupid, Pert! It wouldn't seem stupid to me on a desert island, if
you were there."

"I should n't care to try it."

"Pert, dear," Arthur's voice grew tender, "I want to say a few words to
you seriously, and I beg of you to listen seriously. We are children
no longer, little girl. You have finished with school, and I have
practically assumed control of father's business. I have no new story
to tell you, but you know that I love you and long for you now as I
have loved and longed for you for years.

"You have been my good angel, Pert. It has been my love for you and
your influence over me alone that has kept me steadfast during hours of