and such pleasure did they afford him that orders were issued
for Ted Turner to knock off work each day at four o'clock and return to
the shack, where almost invariably he found his new acquaintance
awaiting him. It was long since Laurie Fernald had had a person of his
own age to talk with. In fact, he had never before seen a lad whose
friendship he desired. Most boys were so well and strong that they had
no conception of what it meant not to be so, and their very robustness
and vitality overwhelmed a personality as sensitively attuned as was
that of Laurie Fernald. He shrank from their pity, their blundering
sympathy, their patronage.

But in Ted Turner he immediately felt he had nothing to dread. He might
have been a Marathon athlete, so far as any hint to the contrary went.
Ted appeared never to notice his disability or to be conscious of any
difference in their physical equipment; and when, as sometimes
happened, he stooped to arrange a pillow, or lift the wheel-chair over
the threshold, he did it so gently and yet in such a matter-of-fact
manner that one scarcely noticed it. They were simply eager, alert,
bubbling, interested boys together, and as the effect of the friendship
showed itself in Laurie's shining eyes, all the Fernalds encouraged it.

"Why, that young Turner is doing Laurie more good than a dozen
doctors!" asserted Grandfather Fernald. "If he did no work on the farm
at all, Ted would be worth his wages. Money can't pay for what he has
done already. I'm afraid Laurie has been missing young friends more
than we realized. He never complains and perhaps we did not suspect how
lonely he was."

Mr. Clarence nodded.

"Older people are pretty stupid about children sometimes, I guess,"
said he sadly. "Well, he has Ted Turner now and certainly he is a
splendid boy for him to be with. Laurie's tutor, Mr. Hazen, likes him
tremendously. What a blessing it is that Wharton stumbled on him and
brought him up here. Had we searched the countryside I doubt if we
could have found any one Laurie would have liked so much. He doesn't
care especially for strangers."

With the Fernald's sanction behind the friendship, and both Laurie's
tutor and his doctor urging it on, you may be sure it thrived
vigorously. The boys were naturally companionable and now, with every
barrier out of the way, and every fostering influence provided, the two
soon found themselves on terms of genuine affection.

If Laurie went for a motor rid