ord from Dan you're bringin' me?" she encouraged. "But there,
now, I'm forgettin' me manners! Come in, an' I'll be makin' you a cup of
tea." She took his arm impulsively, with the frank comradeship of a
young woman for a man much older than herself, and led him to a chair.

Larry sat ready for flight, his cap held stiffly across his knees. He
watched every movement of the girl, a look of pathetic meekness in his
eyes.

"You're right, Mrs. Sullivan," he said after an effort; "Dan was askin'
me to step in on my way to the ship."

She turned quickly from the stove.

"You're not tellin' me now Dan ain't comin' himself, an' the boat
leavin' this night?"

Larry was plainly uneasy.

"Well, you see--it's--now it's just like I'm tellin' you, Mrs. Sullivan;
he's that important to the chief, is Dan, they can't get on without him
to-day at all."

"Then bad luck, I say, to the chief! Look at the grand supper I'm after
fixin' for Dan!"

"Oh, Mary--Mrs. Sullivan, don't be speakin' disrespectful' of the chief,
an' him thinkin' so highly of Dan!"

Mary's blue eyes flashed.

"An' why wouldn't he! It's not every day he'll find the likes of Dan,
with the strong arms an' the great legs of him, not to mention his grand
looks." She crossed to Larry, her face aglow. "Rest easy now while you
drink your tea," she urged kindly, "an' tell me what the chief be
wantin' him for."

She drew her chair close to Larry, but the small man turned shyly from
her searching gaze.

"Well, you see, Mrs.--"

"Call me Mary. It's a year an' more now since the first time you brought
Dan home to me." A sudden smile lighted her face. "Well I remember how
frightened you looked when first you set eyes on me. Was you thinkin' to
find Dan's wife a slip of a girl?"

"No; he told me you was a fine, big lass." He looked from Mary to the
picture of an older woman that hung above the mantel. "That'll be your
mother, I'm thinkin'." Then, with abrupt change, "When did you leave
the old country, Mary?"

"A little more'n a year before I married Dan. But tell me, Mouse, about
the chief wantin' him."

"We'll you see, Dan's that handy-like--"

"That's the blessed truth you're speakin'," she interupted, her face
lovely with its flush of pride. "But tell me more, that's a darlin'."

Larry thought rapidly before he spoke again.

"Only the last trip I was hearin' the chief say: 'Dan,' says he, 'it's
not long now you'll be swingin' the shovel. I'll be makin' you