ld see
him safe to the end, I'm thinking. Good-by."

Gregory Jessup lingered a moment behind the others; his eyes were
suspiciously red, and the hands that gripped Patsy's shook the least
bit. "I wanted to say something: If--if you should ever happen to run
up against Billy Burgeman--anywhere--don't be afraid to do him a
kindness. He--he wouldn't mind it from you."

Patsy leaned against the door and watched him go. "There's another
good lad. I'd like to be finding him again, too, some day." She
pressed her hands over her eyes with a fierce little groan, as if she
would blot out the enveloping tragedy along with her surroundings.
"Faith! what is the meaning of life, anyway? Until to-day it has
seemed such a simple, straight road; I could have drawn a fair map of
it myself, marking well the starting-point and tracing it reasonably
true to the finish. But to-night--to-night--'tis all a tangle of
lanes and byways. There's no sign-post ahead--and God alone knows
where it's leading."

She went back to the spare chamber and took up her watching by the
bedside; and for the rest of that waning day she sat as motionless
as everything else in the room. The farm wife came and went softly,
in between her preparations for supper. When it was ready she tried
her best to urge Patsy down-stairs for a mouthful.

But the girl refused to stir. "I couldn't. The wee lad might come
back while I was gone and find no one to reach him a hand or smile
him a welcome."

A little later, as the dark gathered, she begged two candles and
stood them on the stand beside the bed. Something in her movements or
the flickering light must have pierced his stupor, for Joseph moaned
slightly and in a moment opened his eyes.

Patsy leaned over him tenderly; could she only keep him content until
the mother came and guard the mysterious borderland against all fear
or pain, "Laddy, laddy," she coaxed, "do ye mind me--now?"

The veriest wisp of a smile answered her.

"And were ye for playing Jack yourself, tramping off to find the
castle with a window in it for every day in the year?" Her voice was
full of gentle, teasing laughter, the voice of a mother playing with
a very little child. "I'm hoping ye didn't forget the promise--ye
didn't forget to ask for the blessing before ye went, now?"

No sound came; but the boy's lips framed a silent "No." In another
moment his eyes were drooping sleepily.

* * * * *

Night had com