three or four months they were
brought in from the nearest post office by Slade.

Elsie fairly showered Lennon with naive questions about the faraway land
of cities and green trees and vast stretches of water. Aside from the
magazines and what had been told her by Farley and Carmena, she had no
knowledge of the world outside the Hole.

Beneath Carmena's quiet manner Lennon discovered an interest as keen as
that of her foster-sister and very much more intelligent. She had
childhood memories of Ohio. Much to his distaste, she persuaded Farley
to remain most of the day with them in the living room.

But as the wreck that once had been a man listened to Lennon's talk,
his bent shoulders began to straighten and his drink-bleared eyes
cleared. By evening he was talking as one man of culture to another. He
even showed occasional flashes of a once brilliant mind.

Carmena took care to keep her father stimulated with frequent cups of
coffee. The whiskey flask appeared to be quite forgotten. After supper,
at his suggestion, Elsie brought out an old dog-eared set of
Shakespeare. In the flaring light of a homemade tallow candle he read
parts of "King Lear" and "Hamlet," with his rapt eyes frequently off the
page for a dozen lines or more.

Lennon's aversion to the broken old drunkard had by now mellowed to
tolerance and a degree of pity. He realized what the man had been before
sickness had pulled him down and drink degraded him. At times Farley's
whiskey-shattered mind tended to wander. But Lennon good-humouredly
helped Carmena to bridge the gaps. When her father's face became gray
and drawn, the girl said he was sleepy and took him off to bed.

She returned, to find Elsie perched on the arm of Lennon's chair. They
were both peering at a magazine illustration, with their heads so close
together that Elsie's yellow curls brushed Lennon's cheek.

The warm glow in Carmena's eyes faded; her smiling lips tightened. Her
voice vibrated with a touch of sharpness:

"Sleep time, Blossom."

Elsie sprang to her light feet with docile obedience. But she lingered
to eye Lennon wistfully as he stood up to meet Carmena's level glance.

"Aren't you going to say good night, Jack?" she coaxed. "Don't--don't
brothers ever kiss their sisters good night?"

Lennon cast a half-doubtful glance at the girl's unsmiling
foster-sister, hesitated, caught Elsie's golden head between his hands
and bent to kiss her forehead. She drew back, overcome wi