; but Jim bore the traces of his influence long and
deeply--yes, all his life. Masterful, physical, prone to fight and to
consider might as right, yet Jim's judgment of him was ever tempered by
the one thought, the binding force of his "wurd as a mahn."

CHAPTER VI

Jim Loses Everything

The Widow never forgot that her tenure of the hotel might end at any
time; and, thinking ever of Jim and his future, she saved what she could
from the weekly proceeds. She was a good manager, and each month saw
something added to her bank account. When it had grown to a considerable
size her friends advised her to invest it. There were Government bonds
paying five per cent., local banks paying six and seven, and, last of
all, the Consolidated Trading Stores paying eight and sometimes more--an
enterprise of which Tom Ford was head.

The high interest was tempting, and pride was not without some power.
Kitty was pleased to think that now she could go to the pompous Mayor as
a capitalist. So, creating with an inward sense of triumph the
impression of huge deposits elsewhere, she announced that she would take
a small block of stock in the C. T. S. as a nest-egg for her boy. Thus
the accumulations of ten years went into the company of which the Mayor
was head and guide. For a time, the interest was duly paid each half
year. Then came a crash. After the reorganization the Mayor continued in
his big brick house and his wife still wore her diamonds; but the
widow's hard-earned savings were gone. Kitty was stunned but game;
falling back on the strength that was inside, she bravely determined to
begin all over and build on a rock of safety. But fortune had another
blow in store for Jim. And it fell within a month, just as he turned
thirteen.

It was the end of the Canadian winter. Fierce frost and sudden thaw were
alternated as the north wind and the south struggled for the woods, and
the heat of work in the warm sun left many ill prepared for the onset of
bitter cold at dusk. Bustling everywhere, seeing that pigs were fed,
pies made, and clothes mended; now in the hot kitchen, a moment later in
the stable yard to manage some new situation; the Widow fell a victim to
pneumonia much as John Downey had done.

For three days she lay in fever and pain. Jim was scarcely allowed to
see her. They did not understand pneumonia in those days, and as it was
the general belief that all diseases were "catching," the boy was kept
away. The docto