f I do, I can't help it. But if this fails, I have
got another string to my bow."

"What's that?"

"I shall go into the boot-jack business next; and I hope to get up my
machine for slicing potatoes, and such things, soon."

"O, dear, Leo! You are full of strange ideas. I only hope that some of
them will work well," added Maggie.

"I'm going to be reasonable, sis. I'm not going to give up if a thing
fails once, twice, or nineteen times. I'm going to keep pulling. I've
got half a dozen things in my head; if five of them fail, I shall make
a big thing out of the sixth."

"I hope you will; you are so patient and persevering that you ought to
succeed in something."

"O, I shall; you may depend upon that! Make or break, I'm bound to
succeed in something."

"What do you mean by 'make or break,' Leo? It sounds just as though you
meant to make money if you sacrificed everything."

"I don't mean that."

"I would rather go to the almshouse than be dishonest. I can't think of
anything more horrid than being wicked."

"Nor I either. I don't mean to be dishonest, Maggie. I would rather be
a good man than a rich one, any day; but I think a man can be both. A
good man, with lots of money, is better than a good man without it; for
he can do good with it. When I say, 'make or break,' I don't mean
anything bad by it. I'll tell you what I mean, Maggie. It seems to me,
when I get hold of a good thing, I ought to keep pulling till I carry
my point, or pull away till something breaks. I don't mean to risk
everything on a turn of the wheel of fortune; nothing of that sort. I
mean to persevere and stick to anything so long as there's any chance
of success--till the strings break, and the whole thing tumbles down.
That's my idea."

The idea was satisfactory to Maggie, and she returned to her patient,
while Leo went up to bed; but not to sleep for hours, for the "mouse
business" excited his brain, and kept him awake.

CHAPTER XII.

LEO'S WONDERFUL PERFORMERS.

Maggie, at the sick bed of Andre, slept even more than Leo. She had a
lounge in the room, placed near her charge, on which she rested
comfortably, though she rose several times in the night to assure
herself that all was well with her father. In the morning Andre seemed
to be in the entire possession of his faculties. He had slumbered
quietly all night, hardly opening his eyes after he took the doctor's
prescription.

He awoke before his attentive nurse. He had