278

XX THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT 290

XXI "ONLY ONE THING REALLY COUNTS" 302

XXII "ALL THAT HAPPENS, HAPPENS AGAIN" 313

XXIII THE DAWNING 324

XXIV THE GOOD-BYE 337

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

"I believe," said Peter irrelevantly, "that St.
Paul was a single man, was he not, Pastor?" 86

"Who's in the room!" he demanded 202

"Sleep well," said Peter Grimm. "I wish you
the very pleasantest of dreams a boy could
have in _this_ world" 321

CHAPTER I

A MAN AND A MAID

The train drew to a halt at the Junction. There was a fine jolt that ran
the length of the cars, followed by a clank of couplings and a
half-intelligible call from the conductor.

The passengers,--dusty, jaded, crossly annoyed at the need of changing
cars,--gathered up their luggage and filed out onto the bare, roofless
station platform. There, after a look down the long converging rails in
vain hope of sighting the train they were to take, they fell to glancing
about the cheerless station environs.

Far away were rolling hills, upland fields of wind-swept wheat, cool,
dark stretches of woodland. But around the station were areas of
ill-kept lots, with here and there a jerry-built cottage, sadly in need
of shoring, and bereft of paint. Across the road on one side stood the
general store with its clump of porch-step loafers and its windows full
of gaudy advertisements. To the side, and parallel with the tracks,
sprawled a huge, weather-buffeted signboard that read:

"_Grimm's Botanical Gardens and Nurseries._
_1 Mile._"

The passengers eyed the half-defaced lettering, pessimistically. But
almost at once they received a far pleasanter reminder of the botanical
gardens. A boy, flushed with running, and evidently distressed at being
late, pattered up the road and onto the platform. From one of his
fragile arms hung a great basket. The lid had fallen aside and showed
the basket piled to the brim with fresh flowers.

Hurrying to the nearest passenger--an obese travelling man who mopped a
very red face,--the boy timidly held a Gloire d