then that she might be soon. I began to live with a new motive--a
sense that I was needed, a purpose to be ready to help her children--the
one service I could give to her. There's a long, cruel story back of her
marriage to Tank--a story of deception, coercion, love of money, and all
the elements of common cussedness--too common to make a good story. And,
as generally happens, when Tank married the girl who didn't want him he
treated her as he's always treated everybody else."

Jim clinched his fists hard and shut his teeth with a grip as he sat
silent for a moment. Then drawing a deep breath, as if he were lifting a
weight from his life, he said calmly:

"Mrs. Shirley died some time ago. Only one child survived her--a little
girl six years old. The letter says--"The letter fluttered in Jim's
trembling hands. "It says, 'My little Leigh is just six. She has been
taught to love her uncle Jim.... Through the help of a friend here'--she
doesn't give the name--'I have made you her guardian. I want her to go to
your home. Her father will not take any responsibility, nor try to keep
her. I know you will not fail me.'"

Jim folded the letter abruptly. "It is a dead woman's last wish. How can I
make a home for a little girl? What shall I do?"

He looked at the two men for answer. The doctor lifted his hand to Pryor
Gaines, but the preacher waited awhile before replying. Then he said
thoughtfully:

"It is easy for us two to vote a duty on you, Shirley. I answer only
because you ask, not because I would advise. From my angle of vision, this
looks like your call to service. Your lonely fireside is waiting for a
little child's presence--the child already taught to love you. I would say
send for her at once."

"But how can I send?" Jim questioned. "How can I do a parent's part by
her? I can help a neighbor in need. I can't bring up his children. I'm not
fit for that kind of work. I've hung on here for more than a dozen years
to be ready to help when the time came, and now the thing seems
impossible."

"'As thy day, so shall thy strength be.' If you have prepared yourself to
do anything, you can do it," Pryor Gaines assured him.

"Well, how can I send?" Jim asked again. "There's nobody there to bring
her, and nobody here to go after her. It's an awfully long way from here
to Ohio. A little six-year-old girl can't come alone. I couldn't go back
myself. I may be a coward, but the Almighty made me as I am. I can't go
back to Cl