Miriam opened the door for him, and, he thought, looked at him with
unusual sharpness. "I guess you can see her," she said, shortly. "I'll
ask her."

In the pathetically dingy room, out of which Barbara had tried so hard
to make a home, he waited until Miriam returned. "They said to come up,"
she said, and disappeared.

Roger climbed the creaking stairs and made his way through the dark,
narrow hall to the open door from whence a faint light came. "Come in,"
called Barbara, as he paused.

Ambrose North sat by her bedside holding her hand, but she laughingly
offered the other to Roger. "Bad boy," she said; "why haven't you come
before? I've lain here in the window and watched you go back and forth
for days."

"I didn't dare," returned Roger. "I was afraid I might do you harm by
coming and so I stayed away."

"Everybody has been so kind," Barbara went on. "People I never saw nor
heard of have come to inquire and to give me things. You're absolutely
the last one to come."

[Sidenote: Last but Not Least]

"Last--and least?"

"Not quite," she said, with a smile. "But I haven't been lonely. Father
has been right beside me all the time except when I've been asleep,
haven't you, Daddy?"

"I've wanted to be," smiled the old man, "but sometimes they made me go
away."

"Tell me about the Judge's liver," suggested Barbara, "and Fido. I've
been thinking a good deal about Fido. Did his legal document hurt him?"

[Sidenote: Fido]

"Not in the least. On the contrary, he thrived on it. He liked it so
well that he's eaten others as opportunity offered. The Judge is used to
it now, and doesn't mind. I've been thinking that it might save time and
trouble if, when I copied papers, I took an extra carbon copy for Fido.
That pup literally eats everything. He's cut some of his teeth on a pair
of rubbers that a client left in the office, and this noon he ate nearly
half a box of matches."

"I suppose," remarked Barbara, "that he was hungry and wanted a light
lunch."

"That'll be about all from you just now," laughed Roger. "You're going
to get well all right--I can see that."

"Of course I'm going to get well. Who dared to say I wasn't?"

"Nobody that I know of. Do you want me to bring Fido to see you?"

"Some day," said Barbara, thoughtfully, "I would like to have you lead
Fido up and down in front of the house, but I do not believe I would
care to have him come inside."

So they talked for half an hour or more. The bl