urned away sharply. "I guess I'll beat it, Uncle Sim."

The old man, swinging his lantern, shambled along by his nephew's side,
as the latter made for the road again. "Oh, I ain't trying to hold you
back, Thor. Now, am I? On the contrary, I say, go ahead. Rush in where
angels fear to tread; and if you don't do anything else you'll carry the
angels along with you. You may make an awful fool of yourself, Thor--but
you'll be on the side of the angels and the angels'll be on yours."

* * * * *

Though dinner was over by the time Thor reached home, his stepmother sat
with him while he ate it. It was a new departure for her. Thor could not
remember that she had ever done anything of the sort before. She sat
with him and served him, asking no questions as to why he was late. She
seemed to divine a trouble on his part beyond her power to console, and
for which the only sympathy she dared to express was that of small
kindly acts. He understood this and was grateful.

He found her society soothing. This, too, surprised him. He felt so
battered and sore that the mere presence of one who approached him from
an affectionate impulse had the effect on him of a gentle hand. Never
before in his life had he been conscious of woman's genius for
comforting, possibly because never before in his life had he needed
comfort to the same degree.

No reference was made by his stepmother or himself to the scene with
Mrs. Willoughby in the afternoon, but it was not hard for him to
perceive that in some strange way it was stirring the victim of it to
newness of life. It was not that she admitted the application of
Bessie's charges to herself; they only startled her to the knowledge
that there were heights and depths in human existence such as her
imagination had never plumbed. Her nature was making a feeble effort to
expand, as the petals of a bud that has been kept hard and compact by a
backward spring may unfold to the heat of summer.

When he had finished his hasty meal, Thor rose and kissed her, saying,
"Thank you, mumphy," using the pet name that had not been on his lips
since childhood. She drew his face downward with a sudden sob, a sob
quite inexplicable except on the ground that her poor, withered,
strangled little soul was at last trying to live.

* * * * *

Having gone up-stairs to his room, Thor shut the door and bolted it in
his desire for solitude. He changed his coa