mon as
well as to Mary and Jack. He wished to be free of all obligations, even
gratitude. He insisted on his father's return to his pastorate--which he
did at the end of the week.

Meanwhile Mary and Jack conspired for the Eagle's good. Together they
planned to remove him to some fairer quarter of the city. Together they
read and discussed the letters which poured in upon them from theatrical
managers, Wild West shows, music halls, and other similar enterprises,
and from romantic girls and shrewd photographers, and every other
conceivable kind of crank. The offers of the music halls Jack was
inclined to consider worth while. "He'd be a great success there, or as
a dead-shot in a Wild West show. They pay pretty well, too."

"I don't believe he'd care to do anything like that," Mary quietly
replied.

They both found that he cared to do nothing which involved his remaining
in the East. As his eyes grew brighter, his longing for the West came
back. He lifted his arms above his quilts with the action of the eaglet
who meditates leaping from the home ledge. It was a sorrowful thing to
see this powerful young animal made thin and white and weak by fever,
but his spirit was indomitable.

"He must be moved to the West before he will fully recover," said the
doctor, and to this Mrs. Raimon replied:

"Very well, doctor. You name the day when it is safe and we'll go. I'll
have a special car, if necessary, but first of all he must go to a good
hotel. Can't he be moved now?"

Outwardly Mary acknowledged all the kindness of this rich and powerful
woman, but inwardly she resented her intimacy. Drawing all her little
store of ready money she quietly began paying off the bills. When all
was settled she took a seat beside Harold one day when they were alone
and laying one strong, warm hand on his thin, white arm, she said:

"Harold, the doctor says you can be moved from here, and so--you must
give me the right to take you home with me."

There was a piercing pathos in his wan smile as he replied, "All right,
you're the boss. It's a pretty hard come down, though. I thought once
I'd come back after you in a private car. If you stand by me I may be a
cattle king yet. There's a whole lot of fight in me still--you watch me
and see."

The next day he was moved to a private hotel on the north side, and Mary
breathed a sigh of deep relief as she saw him sink back into his soft
bed in a clean and sunny room. He, with a touch of his old