t of Irish humour.
"_Now_, please ma'am, what am I to do?"

"What are _we_ to do, you mean," retorted Belle. "Well, in view of the
fact that we haven't got the cash the folks here think we have, we must
do something. Twenty-five hundred dollars a year is an improvement on
three hundred a year, and as there is no other positive offer in sight,
I vote for accepting."

"That settles it. What right has a worm like me to vote?"

"That's a poor metaphor, Jim; try again."

"All right! The mighty Captain of this warship accepts the advice of the
insignificant pilot--who happens to know the channel. How is that?"

"It can't be done, Jim. I may help the guiding, but without you I'd have
nothing to guide. Each of us gives his best to the combine--each is a
half of the arch; not simply are we twice as strong together, but twenty
times as strong as we should be singly."

"Now for the call. Do you realize, Jim, that it means good-bye to the
prairies, good-bye to the hills, and good-bye to Midnight?"

Jim nodded and looked grave. Belle went on: "But it also means living
the life that you long ago elected to live--being a chosen instrument of
good to bring blessings to those whose lives are black with sorrow and
despair. It means giving up all the physical pleasures you love so
deeply and rightly; but it also means following the Master. Which is it
to be?"

"I know," he responded, "I know. But Belle, dear, I never had a moment
of doubt when I had to decide between Belle and Blazing Star; why should
I hesitate now when it's Midnight or Christ?"

So the letter was written and delivered forthwith at the Temperance
Hotel. One week later Belle and Jim were driving again toward Cedar
Mountain, headed for the railway which was to take them to Chicago. As
they swung down the trail Belle looked out on the familiar objects and
said:

"Here we are again at the beginning of a new chapter; and again it
starts on the old Deadwood trail."

CHAPTER LI

These Little Ones

It was a long but easy journey down south to the Union Pacific, and
finally east to Chicago. And when the young couple, whom the passengers
watched with much interest, arrived at the great city, they found half a
dozen men and women of importance awaiting them at the Union Station,
with more servants to assist them than they had pieces of luggage. Mr.
and Mrs. Hopkins, with their own carriage, were in attendance to offer
the hospitality of their house to the R