act."

"Is it possible!" The girl laughed. "Will wonders never cease! What was
the matter? Did the heiresses cut you?"

"I cut the whole thing, and I have my reward. I suppose your mother
didn't tell you that, either. I'm going into business with Mr. Reeves.
Do you know him? Jewel does." He smiled toward the child, who lifted an
interested face.

"Yes, I do," she said. "You remember about him, cousin Eloise."

"Certainly." The girl looked at her friend questioningly.

"I'm spending this week at his house."

"And you know about Jewel? He has told you?"

"Certainly. The one person of his acquaintance who hasn't to unlearn
anything."

"You mean he talked to you of Christian Science?"

Bonnell's hands were clasping his knees. His hat lay on the bank beside
him and the thick hair tossed away from his brow. He nodded slowly,
wondering at the sudden attentive interest of her look.

"Yes," he replied. "We talked on the tabooed subject."

"Tabooed with whom? You?" she asked disappointedly.

"No, with you I understand."

Color flew into Eloise's face. "Who told you that? Mother of course."

Bonnell nodded, giving a fleeting glance toward the child, who was again
busy at her excavation.

"Are congratulations in order, Eloise?" he asked quietly.

"Yes, congratulations." Her eyes grew full of light. "For I have come to
see the truth. That child has shown me."

The young man's lips remained apart for a second in his surprise at this
declaration, after Mrs. Evringham's detailed representations.

"Then I may tell you how my mother was healed," he said at last.

"Oh, was it really so?"

"Yes."

"And you, Nat?" Unconsciously Eloise leaned her whole body toward him,
supporting her hand on the ground. "You know about it yourself? You
understand?"

"Yes."

"And you believe in it?"

"With all my heart."

Her face shone. "Oh, Jewel, do you hear? Mr. Bonnell is a Scientist."
The girl's breathing was hastened. Her eyes were like stars.

The child sank back from her work and regarded the visitor, smiling. She
was glad, but she was not astonished. In her world a great many young
men had found the key to life, but to Eloise it was something wonderful.
She looked at her old friend as if she had never seen him before. She
reviewed all she knew of his gay life with its background of suffering.

"Do you study the lessons?" she asked incredulously. "_You_?"

"Every day. I am surprised beyond measure to find you inte