direct reply. "There'll be one soon, if your
father doesn't mind himself. I'll retire--and take my money out.
Where'll he be then?"

Thor felt his way. "You've taken out a good deal already, haven't you?"

"Not any more than belonged to me. You can bet your boots on that."

"No; not any more than belonged to you, of course. I was only thinking
that with the splendid house you've built--and its up-keep--and your
general expenses--which are pretty heavy, aren't they?--"

"Not any more than belonged to me, Thor. You can bet your boots on
that."

The repetition was made drowsily. The big head of bushy white hair, with
its correlative of bushy white beard, swayed with a slow movement that
ended in a jerk. It was obvious that the warnings and admonitions to
which Thor had been leading up were not for that day. They were useless
even when, a half-hour later, the movement of the runabout and the keen
air of the high lands as they approached the village roused the big
creature to a maudlin cursing of his luck.

On nearing the house, the delicate part of the task which of late Thor
had taken almost daily on himself became imminent. It was to get his
charge into the house, up to his room, and stretched on a couch without
being seen by Lois. Thor had once caught her carrying out this duty
unaided. She had evidently called for her father in her mother's
limousine, and as Thor passed down the village street she was helping
the staggering, ungainly figure toward the door. The next day Thor took
his runabout from the garage and went on the errand himself. He was also
more ingenious than she in finding a way by which the sorry object could
be smuggled indoors. The carriage entrance of the house was too near the
street. That it should be so was a trial to Mrs. Willoughby, who would
have preferred a house standing in grounds, but there never had been any
help for it. When money came in it had been Len's desire to buy back a
portion of the old Willoughby farm, and build a mansion on what might
reasonably be called his ancestral estate. Of this property there was
nothing in the market but a snip along County Street; and though he was
satisfied with the site as enabling him to display his prosperity to
every one who passed up and down, his wife regretted the absence of a
dignified approach.

By avoiding County Street when he came out from town, and following a
road that scrambled over the low hillside till it made a juncture with
Wil