hy, yes, in some ways," returned Hal thoughtfully. "Yes, of course
I'm glad not to have him sarsing the girls and pestering me. Still, I'm
sort of sorry for him."

"_Sorry?_"

Hal nodded.

"But I thought you----"

"I know! I know! I'm not saying he wasn't an awful old screw. But
somehow I don't believe he meant to be so flinty-hearted. You see, he
came and talked to me to-day--talked like a regular human being. You
could have knocked me over. It seems--a funny thing--that kid I picked
up out of the street the other day was his."

"Corcoran's kid!"

"Yep! Can you beat it? Of course I hadn't a notion who the little tike
belonged to; but even if I had I should have done the same thing. You
wouldn't let a kid like that be run over no matter who his father was."

"But--but--Corcoran!" gasped Carl. "How did he know it was you who
rescued his baby?"

"Somebody told him. He said it cut him up terribly because of the way
he'd treated Louise."

"Served him right."

"Maybe! But he was cut up, poor old cuss! You'd have been sorry for him
yourself, if you'd heard him. He isn't all brute by any means. Why,
when he spoke about his little boy----"

"But Louise!"

"I know. It was a low-down trick and he said so himself. But he
declared it was an ill wind that blew nobody good, and he hinted that
maybe in consequence of the trouble she would be better off than if it
hadn't happened."

Carl bit his tongue to keep it silent. How he longed to impart to his
chum the good tidings that would greet him when he reached home! But he
must not spoil Louise's pleasure by telling the story of her good luck
for her.

"Oh, somehow things do seem to come round right if you wait long
enough," mumbled he.

"So mother says," echoed Hal moodily. "But you get almighty sick of
waiting sometimes. Even knowing you were right doesn't put pennies in
your pocket." He laughed with a touch of bitterness.

Again Carl was tempted to break the silence and reveal the wonderful
secret, and again he clamped his lips together.

Hal would hear the tidings soon enough now and his spirits would soar
the higher because of the depths to which they had descended. It was
always so. This broad range of mood was one of his chief charms.

Ah, how well he knew his friend and how accurately did he forecast what
would happen!

It was not five minutes after the two parted at the corner before Hal
Harling came leaping up the McGregors' stairway and gave a loud