s the time of restless waiting, cajoling
Phebe into good humor, and entertaining Allyn by the hour. Blithe and
sunny-tempered himself, he kept them from becoming too blue, while the
little care and half-tender, half-playful coddling which the girls gave
him was a safety valve for their tensely-strung nerves.

"I believe I love those old crutches of yours, Billy," Theodora said
impetuously, one night.

He had been unusually weak, all that day. Even now, there were times
when his strength failed him and when, for the passing hour, the old
pain came back to give him a few twinges, as a reminder that he could
not afford to be too careless. He had been lying stretched out on the
sofa with Theodora sitting beside him, while the twilight dropped over
the room. At her words, he looked up abruptly.

"I can't say that I do."

"No; I suppose not. Still, I owe them a good deal."

"I don't see why," he said vaguely, as his eyes rested on her bright
face, just now looking unusually dreamy and thoughtful, while she sat
staring at the long rosewood staff in her hand.

"Perhaps it's selfish," she said, with a smile; "but I've an idea that
if, when I first knew you, you'd been strong and--just like other boys,
I should never have known you half so well. Do you know, Billy
Farrington, I'd just like a chance to fight for you, to do something to
show I'm not a friend just in talk and nothing else."

He laughed at the sudden fierceness of her tone, little thinking how
soon her words would be put to the test.

"I hope you won't have the chance, Ted; but I've an idea that, if ever I
were in a tight place, you'd help me out of it sooner than anyone
else."

"Try me and see," she answered briefly.

Good news came to them, only the next day. Mrs. McAlister had reached
her brother, to find that convalescence had already begun. The attack of
fever had been sudden and sharp; but Archie's fresh young strength had
held its own, and his recovery was likely to be a rapid one.

"I shall bring him home with me," Mrs. McAlister wrote. "He oughtn't to
go back into camp, this fall; and the doctor says that the long rest
will be the best tonic he can have, for he's been working altogether too
hard. If he is able, we shall start for home, next week, and get there
by the twenty-fifth."

Hope sang blithely to herself, all that day, and even Phebe was moved
into a more agreeable mood than was her wont. Allyn took a more
materialistic view of the sit