ime a gang formed for a similar purpose, he was asked to join. But he
shook his head, and being foolishly truthful by nature, he blurted out
an embarrassed:

"My mother won't let me."

The answer was passed along. It was repeated in school the next day.
Keith heard echoes of it for weeks. And it added a good deal to the
invisible wall that seemed to rise about him wherever he went.

Yet he was not unhappy. There was in his nature a wonderful resiliency
that never let his spirits drop beyond a certain point, and that always
brought them back to highwater mark at the slightest encouragement.

V

He had discovered the school library. It was to him a marvellous
treasure trove. Any book could be taken home, one at a time, after being
registered with the teacher acting as librarian for the day. Nor were
the books handed out to you arbitrarily. You browsed all by yourself,
and picked and picked, and calculated, and went back on your choice a
dozen times, until at last you struck a book so fascinating in its
promises that all hesitation disappeared.

The father started to object, but was silenced by the explanation that
the school authorities wanted the boys to borrow books from the library.
That settled it, for discipline came first and even pleasure must be
allowed if required by discipline. Had Keith been less honest or more
imaginative in what may be called practical matters, his father's regard
for authority might have offered more than one chance at liberties now
denied, but this possibility never occurred to him, and so the library
remained his one avenue of escape.

The books he chose puzzled and almost shocked the rotatory guardians of
his sanctum. Once he picked an enormous volume on Greek mythology, full
of pictures and translated passages from Homer and the dramatists.

"You don't want that, Wellander," the teacher said, eying him
curiously, when Keith presented the book for registration.

"Yes, I do," replied Keith stoutly, but his heart began to quake at the
thought that the cherished volume was going to be denied him.

"Do you mean to say that you intend to read it through?" the teacher
persisted.

"Yes, I will," said Keith.

There was a long pause during which the teacher seemed to weigh the book
in his hand as if wondering whether its very weight would be too much
for the undersized little chap in front of him.

"All right," he said at last, "but I suppose that means you will have
reading fo