lmer's shyness was increasing. Never before in his life had he been
brought into close personal contact with "the cloth" as he termed it,
and even this "swaddling garment" was having a slow-growing hold upon
him.

Presently Jock came timidly out, after his last visit to the kitchen,
with pipes and a tobacco-box.

"I'm not certain," he began, "how your kind takes to tobacco, but if I
don't get my evening smoke, I get a bad spell of temper--so, if you
don't object--I'll light up."

"If you'll wait a moment," Drew returned, "I'll join you. I always smoke
my own pipe--I've got sort of chummy with it--but I'll share your
tobacco."

Filmer grinned, and the cloud passed from his face.

"I calculated," he said, "that your kind classed tobacco with cussing
and jags. Light up, kid."

They were soon lost in the fragrant smoke, the bliss of satisfied
appetite, and a peaceful scene. The sun went down, and left the hills
and valley in an afterglow of glory. The beauty was so touching that
even Filmer succumbed, shook the ashes from his pipe and delayed
refilling. Presently he looked at Drew's face. It had paled from
emotion, and shone white in the shadow of the porch.

"You look peaked." Filmer's words brought the boy back to earth. "Been
through a long siege, maybe?"

"Oh, overstudy and weak lungs!" Drew spoke cheerfully. "Bad combination,
you know, and I didn't pull in as soon as I should have. I crammed for
exams. Made them, and then collapsed. I'm all right now, though. All the
struggle's over. I've only to reap the reward. There was a big doctor
down in New York who told me that the air up here was my one chance. I'm
going to take it. A few months here, and a life anywhere else I may
choose, he said.

"What do you say to letting me have your room and company--you needn't
give any more of the latter than you want to, you know--for a spell?
You'll find me easy to get on with, I fancy, no one has ever complained
of me in that way. I don't care what Green Lake is like, I like _this_
better. I like this, way down to the ground. I've gone daffy over the
whole thing." He drew in a long, happy breath. "What do you say?"

"I'd like to ask, if it ain't too inquisitive," Jock inquired, ignoring
the boy's eagerness, while he put forth his own claims, "why in thunder
a chap like you took to the preaching business? Somehow you look like a
feller that might want to enjoy life."

Drew laughed heartily.

"Why, I mean to enjoy lif