night when two young men gave up that very trip and
Lawyer Ed had laughingly declared he would go some day even if he had
to wait till little Roderick grew up. "And little the boy knows," said
Mr. Thornton to himself, "just how much Ed gave up that time."

"Well," he said aloud, "this is surely poetic justice."

"What is?" asked Roderick puzzled. But J. P. would not explain.
"We'll just make him go," he declared. "You stand behind me, Rod, and
don't let him get back to work, and I'll get him off."

It was not entirely the old boyish desire to go on the long-looked-for
trip with his friend that was at the bottom of Mr. Thornton's anxiety
to get away. He could not help seeing that Ed needed a rest and needed
it very badly. Archie Blair aroused his fears further. For one
evening Lawyer Ed did an altogether unprecedented thing and went home
to bed early. Mrs. Hepburn, his sister, was so amazed over such a
piece of conduct on her brother's part, that she called at the doctor's
office the next day to ask if he thought there was anything wrong with
Ed's heart.

Doctor Blair laughed long and loud over the question, putting the
lady's fears at rest.

"No, I don't think any one in Algonquin would admit there was anything
astray with Ed's heart, Mary," he said. "But his head might be vastly
improved by putting a little common sense into it regarding eating and
sleeping. He's been going too hard for about twenty-five years and
he's tired, that's all. But J. P.'s going to get him off this time,
all right, and the change is just what he needs."

He spoke to J. P. about it, and the two determined that they would make
all preparations to start for the Holy Land in July and if Ed had to be
bound and gagged until the steamer sailed, they would certainly see
that he went.

Lawyer Ed consented with the greatest enthusiasm. Of course he would
go. He really believed he had enough money saved up, and Roderick was
doing everything, anyway, and he could just start off for a forty years
wandering in the wilderness if J. P. would go with him.

The whole town became quite excited when Mrs. Hepburn announced at a
tea given by Mrs. Captain Willoughby that her brother and J. P.
Thornton were really and truly, even should Algonquin go up in flames
the day before, going to sail from Montreal sometime in July for
foreign parts. There was a great deal of running to and from the
Thornton and Brians homes, and a tremendous amount of