if
unconsciously reminiscent of his burial service manner. "Any time you
telephone for me, day or night, I'll run over _immediately_. God bless
you, sir!" his rounded voice shaking uncontrollably. "I have never come
to you in behalf of any worthy charity and been refused. You have set an
example in upright living, in generosity, in true manliness, and in
constant church attendance that should be an example to all my vestrymen
and to the town at large. I have never seen a nobler man. Never.
Good--good-morning."

He moved toward the door, winking very fast and clearing his throat. At
the threshold he beckoned to his wife. But she had already borne down
upon Peter.

"Mr. Grimm!" she sobbed. "The best--the kindest--the--the--Oh, I _don't_
see how we are going to bear it."

"Dear Mrs. Batholommey," answered Grimm. "Please don't be so overcome. I
may outlive you all. Nevertheless, I am grateful to your husband for
letting me hear my funeral eulogy in advance, and to you for----"

"Oh, how _can_ you make light of it?" she sobbed. "Yes, dear, I'm
coming. Good-bye, Mr. Grimm."

Like a confused and somewhat elderly hen she scuttled off in her
husband's wake, while Peter Grimm stared after the two with a
half-amused, half-perplexed smile.

"Of all the wall-eyed, semi-anthropoid congenital idiots," roared
McPherson as the door closed behind them, "those two are----"

"You're mistaken, Andrew," contradicted Grimm. "They're kind-hearted,
good people, who spend their lives and their substance in helping
others. If you and they can't get on together it's no one's fault. Any
more than because fuchsias and sunflowers won't thrive in the same bed.
Now calm down a bit, old friend, and tell me----"

"Nothing! It was nothing. Just nonsense. Don't give it another thought,
Peter. You said, yourself, a while ago, that many a man who was given up
by the doctors at twenty-five lives to be a hundred. And there is no
reason on earth why you----"

"Don't!" urged Grimm. "I don't need that. I----"

"Don't fret yourself, Peter," insisted McPherson. "You mustn't get the
idea that you are worse off than you really are. Don't get cold feet or
let this thing worry you to death. You must live for----"

"Andrew!" chided Grimm, with tolerant reproof. "Are you so tangled up
that you think you're talking to Willem instead of to a full-grown man?
If it's got to be, it's got to be. And you were wrong not to tell me at
once. That is the way with you