oise took it from him. "Let me,"
she suggested. "I'd love to throw a crutch over to Europe."

She tried it, with the customary feminine awkwardness. It did not go
beyond the shallow water, and speared itself, sharp end downward, in the
soft sand.

Allan laughed uproariously and Eloise coloured with shame. "Never mind,"
she said, with affected carelessness, "you couldn't have made it stick
up in the sand like that, and I think it'll get to Europe just as soon
as yours does, so there."

They sat down on the beach, sheltered from prying eyes by a sand dune,
and directly opposite the crutch, which wobbled with every wave that
struck it. "Think what it means," said Eloise, "and think what it might
mean. It might be part of a shipwreck, or someone who needed it very
much might have dropped it accidentally out of a boat, or the one who
had it might have died, after long suffering."

"Or," continued Allan, "someone might have outgrown the need of it and
thrown it away, as the tiny dwellers in the sea cast off their shells."

[Sidenote: Thanks]

Eloise turned to him, with her deep eyes soft with luminous mist. "I
haven't thanked you," she said, "for all you have done for my little
girl." She lifted her sweet face to his.

"If you're going to thank me like that," said Allan, huskily, "I'll cut
up the whole township and not even bother to save the pieces."

"You needn't," laughed Eloise, "but it was dear of you. You've never
done anything half so lovely in all your life."

"It was you who did it, dear. I was but the humble instrument in your
hands."

"Was Barbara glad?"

"I think so. She kissed me, too, but not like that."

"Did she, really? The sweet, shy little thing. Bless her heart."

"I infer, Miss Wynne," remarked Allan, in a judicial tone, "that you're
not jealous."

"Jealous? I should say not. Anybody who can get you away from me," she
added, as an afterthought, "can have you with my blessing and a few
hints as to your management."

[Sidenote: Really Glad]

"Safe offer," he commented. "Are you really glad I've done what I have
for Barbara?"

"Oh, my dear! So glad!"

"Then," suggested Allan, hopefully, "don't you think I should be thanked
again?"

* * * * *

"I forgot to ask you about that dear old man," said Eloise, after a
little. "Is he going to be all right, too?"

"Pretty much so, I think. We're very sure that he can see a little--he
will not be totally blind.