erious owl of a girl that had never footed a jig in her
life and would have died of shame not to have her washin' out bright and
early of a Monda' mornin'. Now what was it, I ask you, that put love
between us?"

Danny appealed to his young friend as man to man. Rosie, however, was
not a person to grant the purely academic side of any question that was
perfectly clear and matter-of-fact.

"Why, you loved her, Danny, and she loved you and that's all there was
to it."

For a moment Danny looked blank. Then he chuckled. "Strange I didn't
think of that before!" His eyes began to twinkle. "I'll wager, Rosie
dear, ye've never lain awake o' nights wondering what it was that made
the world go round, have you now?"

Rosie's answer was emphatic: "Of course not! I'm not so silly!"

Danny laughed. "I thought not."

Rosie went back to serious matters. "But, Danny, I can't understand
about Jarge Riley and Ellen. Why is he so crazy about Ellen?"

Danny drew a long face. "The truth is, I suppose he loves her."

"But why does he love her?"

Danny's eyes opened wide. "Is it yourself, Rosie O'Brien, that's askin'
me why?"

"I don't understand it at all," Rosie continued. "I've got a mind to
give Jarge a good talking to. He just ought to be told a few things for
his own good."

"I'm sure he'll listen to you." There was a hint of guile in Danny's
voice but Rosie refused to hear it.

"He always does listen to me. We're mighty good friends, Jarge and
me.... Yes, I'll just talk to him tonight. I'll put it to him quietly.
Jarge has got lots of sense if only you talk to him right."

"Of course he has," Danny agreed. "And, Rosie dear, I'm consumed with
impatience to hear the outcome of your conference. You won't fail to
stop in and tell me about it tomorrow--promise me that!"

Rosie promised. She bid her old friend good-bye and left him, her mind
already full of the things she would say to George Riley.

CHAPTER XXVI

ELLEN

"I don't know what's keepin' poor Ellen," Mrs. O'Brien remarked as the
family gathered at supper that evening. "They're awful busy at them
down-town offices, I'm thinkin'. Ellen was expectin' to be home at six
o'clock sharp but something important must have come in and they need
her. Ah, say what you will, a poor girl's got to work mighty hard these
days."

"Huh!" grunted Terry.

There was a slam at the front door, at sound of which Mrs. O'Brien's
face lighted up. "Ah, there she is now, the po