A Bird’s-eye View of Heaven.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIX, Issue 2, 8 January 1913, Page 50

A Bird’s-eye View of Heaven.

By

PHILIP VERRILL MIGHELS.

THAT 265, West Fifteenth Avenue logical deductions. In the first •through the medium of several was heaven is susceptible of proof place,’marriages were made there. Secondly, the girls were angels, as discovered and averred by all the young men •visitors. Thirdly, if a thirdly be requisite, there was tiny Gabriel, whose red tin trumpet was certainly destined yet to arouse the dead. •Despite the total absence of celestial harps, be-feathered pinions, and golden thoroughfares, Dick Rudder and plump Dot'Bonny knew absolutely how well avit'hin the gates of Paradise they stood, at the moment when Dorothy’s warm, sweet lips delivered up that hostage of a womans love —her kiss of beatific •surrender. iUn fortunately for Dick, sweet Miss Dorothy had delivered up at least one hostage before—and to quite another individual. But indeed it was more by welcomed accident than by conceived design that Dot had permitted either surrender to occur, since even now she was wholly unprepared to decide between her .two admirers, from a standpoint of altars, trouseaux, and honeymoons. ■There is an indescribable relief to the mind in any final surrender, however, •hence the ceremony of ratifying a now .understanding was not to be completed to the satisfaction of either Dot or Dick [with undue haste. It therefore chanced that the heart-to-heart negotiations were only well in progress when the door behind the pair was abruptly opened and in there strode the mother of all the Bonny angels. As befitted her position and relationship. Mrs Bonny was modelled in the generous dimensions of a goddeiss. Moreover. she looked the part. As rigid, •judicial, and conventional as scii'lpturod OU>ne--to all the male aspirants for an

angel’s hand who were not distinctly good, big catches for the girlei—she had early thrown an icy stare a.t the irresponsible and wholly impassible Mr Bichard Rudder. She therefore halted on the threshold now like the outraged iNemesis of love’s young dream. “•.Richard Rudder!” she presently cried tin astonishment; “how dare- how dare •you? Dot! Mr Rudder, you are not icissing my daughter?” (Mbs Dorothy suddenly wilted from her lover’s arms. But Dick was unscathed and unsea t liable. “Why, no. I’m not, dear ma,” said he *wibh unblighted cheer, us he came for Mrs Bonny ardently. “I’m kissing—you.” The heavy artillery salute was fired against the check of the dignified and •astonished lady. and Mrs Bonny gasped. “You! you prodigal! you Richard Rudder, release me instantly!” she said exphisi Vely. “You kharne! How horribly bold and uncalled fuel 1 forbid

you to kiss —'this family in any such manner, Mr Rudder. What does all this —this riotous behaviour mean?” ‘Means I’ve broken into heaven, little mother,” answered Richard. “Give me one more kies of welcome, and ” “Richard —stop! Dick! —you’re on my skirt—get away!” responded Mrs. Bonny, ejecting the enthusiastic Richard with a push of. her matronly arm. “What do you mean? I never heard of such conduct in my life! Dorothy Bonny, yon haven't engaged yourself to this mad dreamer, after all you said to Franklin Webb?” Dot was not at ease. “I didn't say—much—to Mr. Webb,” she faltered. “Oh, that’s all right. I don’t mind a little thing like that,” interjected Dick generously. Mrs. Bonny ignored his remark. “Didn't say much?” she repeated to Dot. “You told him he might hope—for he came and confessed it all to me.” “Well —can't he —hope?" inquired the angel faintly. “Why, yes, let him hope,” Dick responded readily. “Do him good.” “Mope?—hope?” her mother echoed, “and you permitting this—this Dick to kiss ” “He kissed you too,” Miss Dot dared to interrupt. Mrs. Bonny swept her handkerchief across her cptire countenance absolvingly. “You—liked it,” she retorted. “Mother knows, Dot; don’t dispute,” said Dick. “You Jhush, (sir,” the mother icommanded. “I refuse to consent to any engagement between you and my child. Why, it’s perfect madness. You haven’t a thing in the world. And here is Franklin Webb, a splendid match. What in the world are you dreaming of-r-you two? What sort of a mother do you

think I am, not to do my duty by my child?" “Duty? Why Dorothy loves me best.” said Richard. “Don't you, Dot?” Dorothy engaged with a spot she was rubbing on the table, nodded her pretty head. Dick added confidently: “If the mere absence of capital is all that stands in the way. I’ll remove your objections at once, dear mamma.” Mrs. Bonny’s dignity searched every corner of her face-for a plate of refuge from the irrepressible Dick. “You’ll make a fortune as usual with one of your wild, impracticable schemes, J presume," she answered, as grimly as possible. “1 give you fair warning, Richard—. Mr. Rudder —that Dorothy Hliall not be permitted either to trifle with Mr. Webb or to marry a man in your present indefinite position.” Now Dick; despite his airy ealm, was aware of, and entertained a large respect for thn powers that Dorothy’s mother could bring to bear on her lust

remaining angel's mind and heart. Ho was almost as wise as he was irrepressible. • ■ ‘That’s all right—eminently proper,” he answered. “All I ask is a chance to prove what I can do. Why I’ve lost more fortunes than Webb ever had in his life. So we’ll consider it's a bargain that I’m your son as soon as I scare up a business. I’ll kiss you again, to sea! the ” “Dick! Richard, go away this instant!” erred the lady, thrusting forth her arms offensively. “You impudent— l —” “Ala—ma,” came a voice from a room at the rear of the house. “I—want —Dick —now!” “There," said Mrs. Bonny, suddenly a mother, all solicitude, “you nearly made me forget what I came here for in the first place. Gabriel wants you to tell him a story.” “All right,” said Dick, consulting his watch. “I've got fifteen minutes before

I slide up town to close a deal I know of that is simply the biggest thing that ever happened.” He winked at Dot, and would have (bowed Mrs. Bonny through the door, but his elective mother-in-law had once been a girl herself. She therefore walked Ibetweeu the would;be lovers in the brief procession to the farther apartment. And ■here she presently beheld the pale little Gabriel sitting contentedly on the knee of the irresponsible Richard and holding the big brown hand in happiness ineffable. Thereat her dignity vanished and Sier (heart was filled with conflicting emotions. She paused for a moment to listen, so intent was the tiny chap’s absorption. Dick was reciting: — “Little fishie in the brook. I’apa catch him with a hook. To get his little speckled skin. To wrap the baby in." “That,” imparted Dick, “is a song composed by the fairies at the birth of Izaak Walton." Then at length when he found himself obliged to depart, poor Richard received but a love-lorn glance from Dorothy, whose mother it was 'that went with the lover to the door.

“Mr Rudder,” she said, in that, firm, sweet manner that he knew he must always respect and admire, “we shall continue to make you welcome as we have before—and we should miss you very much if you failed to come, but you know it would not be good sense for you and Dot to think of marriage—on nothing. She has half accepted Franklin Webb, with my approval, and it seems she has half accepted you, without “Oh, there's nothing half-way about it,” interrupted Dick. “Yes there is, for I cannot sanction it, Mr Rudder, and be wise,” she cor reeled. “I didn't think I should really -admit it is even a half-way arrangement, but I'd rather not seem harsh. So I prefer to appeal to your own sense of right and judgment.” “Mother,” said Dick pathetically l>elieving he could work an effect with pathos—“mother, you don't really mean von are shutting me out of heaven—into the cold, hard world?” “Richard, don't be a goose,” she an swered, softening despite herself. “If you can make a fortune wo quickly and easily, why go and make it, and then—we'll see.” llis face became elongated, almost to

melancholy. This expression remained, however, for a second only. “AU right,” he responded. “That’s fair enough. Wil] you kiss your son on that agreement, dearest mother?” “Why—no! Of course not! I’m amazed at you, Dick,” Airs Bonny replied in confusion. “Go along, you silly boy. Good-bye.” And she closed the door. 11. In accumulating a fortune, the financiers of the Richard Rudder school" of economics find the largest difficulty that of acquiring scraps of paper sufficient to contain the vast array of figures which the possibilities of a given enterprise marshal so swiftly—in the mind. Dick wore out his pencils, in simple additions and multiplications of potential profits, within the week succeeding his so-called engagement to Dot. Flushed and eager he hastened into heaven with his news, and drew the full audience

■about him. Indeed, he drew the wan little Gabriel, trumpet and all, to his knee, and there the wee chap sat, adoring the big giant of comfort. “Mother,” said Dick glowingly, “I’ve bought three businesses for two "dollars and thirty-five cents from a fellow by the name of Cozzen, who don’t know enough to ache when he’s kicked on the shine, so Dot and I may as well get married the first of the week. I don’t wish to crowd the mourners, but do you suppose you could get her contraptions ready on time?” “Oh, Dick! Contraptions!” said Dorothy, blushing like an evening sky. Her thoughts, during his absence, had been mostly for Webb. They were now all clustered on Dick, like bits of iron on a magnet. “I’m afraid I should be too much interested in the three new businesses to do any sewing so quickly,” Mrs Bonny made answer. “But. you haven't told me what these enterprises are." “They’re all big things,” Richard told them, digging down in his pocket for a

stubby pencil. “The point is, which shall I develop first? Now, here’s one: I've got a secret for manufacturing balloon gas that is five times more volatile than anything at present in use. Five timest Do you know what that means? WhyI’ve simply got a lead-pipe cinch on all the balloon busintvs of the world. I« less than six months L'll be supplying

tlw gas for every ascension on the habitable globe, and ae all balloonists are oily rich idiots, I won’t do a thing but hand them out the gas for dough. Why, I can charge any price I like, and you can figure ” “Me, Dick—me! Me want a balloon!” interrupted little Gabriel, who remembered with ecetacy the amazing explosion of his last gaudy bauble of the tissue-rubber description. "All right,” agreed Dick. “I’ll buy you a bunch.” "Are balloons such common commodities?” inquired Mrs Bonny earnestly. “Are they unusually numerous thia year?” “Coming more and more into use,” responded Richard cheerily. “But even

supposing I didn’t count my gas as worth a penny, I’d still be O.K. I’ve got a recipe for making vinegar out of crude petroleum, and I’ve got the Rudder Patent Inhaling Apparatus for all affections of the nose, ear, and throat. That business alone —well, I guess anybody knows how many millions of gallons of vinegar are consumed per year." Why this country alone, if 1 figure on only two cents a gallon profit, would net a man a fortune every month.” “Oh, my!” gasped the breathless and admiring Dot. “Nassy vinegar,” said Gabriel, who had undergone countless applications of brown paper, soaked. in the pungent liquid, .on his poor little lungs. “And does your patent inhaler promise equally abundant returns?” inquired .Mrs Bonny in unperturbed calm. “It sounds like the gas.” ■ “Oh, I'm improving the whole thing, to make it popular,” said Dick. “It’s a good big thing, but Cozzen missed on the most important point. You see, it’s a tent, or hag, to go over th 6 patient’s head, provided with a suitable means of creating fumes inside for the patient to breathe. People love to breathe any old fumes for red eyes and earache and tonsils. They think tlfere’s something doing. And. this thing gives them a chance to live on fumes. But Cozzen made his smoke out of stuff that comes too high and smells too low. People won’t stand for .that sort of a deal. I lay awake all one night to think up something cheap that would make a heap of agreeable smoke and fuss. People like lots of fuss when they think they're sick, like my Uncle Toby. And at last I’ve got the greatest thing on earth.” He paused impressively. Mrs Bonny darned, and waited. Dorothy stood entranced. “What is H?” she managed at length to ask. Don’t give this away to a soul—not to a soul,” cautioned Richard. “It’s lime—just common, unslaeked lime--which I sell as a special preparation. You adjust the tent, put the lime beneath it, in a basin, pour on the liquid supplied with the apparatus, and she boils and smokes to beat Mount. Pelee. (Wholesome, beneficial—l guess it's bene-

ficial—cheap and effective. The liquid is pink water, bottled by yours truly. Apparatus lasts for ever; compound (.that’s the lime) and liquid (that's the water) can be had from. Rudder and Company only. Order from the main warehouse, or from any of our branch depots. Whole thing costs fifteen cents and sells for five dollars. Everybody’s ears and throat are out of gear all the time. Money?—l’ve simply gone dizzy trying to add up the dividends!” "Oh, Diek, let’s have an automobile!” cried Dot. "Mamma, that white silk wrapper could be made up into a wedding dress os easily as not!” “Nassy medicine,” said Gabriel. “Me want a balloon now.” “I suppose there must be some justi-

fication for selling these useless nags and-the pink water to a suffering public,” remarked Mrs Bonny. “But persons are likely to speak slightingly of a man who grows wealthy with suspicious rapidity. And who is to make your tents?” "Well —1 thought you and Dot could make the first few dozen,” admitted Diek. “Any old muslin—heavy muslin—or thin white duck you happen to have around the house would do. I bought up three of the tents from Cozzen—all he had —and I’ve sold the entire stock already— one outfit to my Uncle Toby. He’s got asthma and always thinks he’s going to die. So you can see it’s a rattling good thing in the market.” • “You’ve —sold three of those things—and common lime and common water—to fellow human beings, already!” Mrs Bonny repeated, aghast at his confessed depravity and astounded at his commercial dexterity. “Richard Rudder! This Jis'news indeed!” I had to get a whole pair of trousers, and I owed for three months’ rent, and oh, I nearly forgot—here's something for little King Courage.” He drew from his pocket a large nickel wateh that advertised its guardianship of time with a husky tick. This he placed in the eager little hand already extended. His own boyish joy and tiny Gabriel’s unbounded delight somewhat awed the yearning mother and stilled the voice of wisdom in her breast. “So you see I had to sell tents and materials, dearest mother.” Diek presently resumed. “It's good legitimate business—ten times more honest than dozens that have made men rich all over the earth. And —if you folks could make the tents, why we’d form a company and share the profits and make things hum. Could you make me half a dozen by to-morrow noon?” “But we've got to make the wedding dress and—lots of things besides,” said the sweet, impulsive Dorothy with another of her blushes. "There is no particular haste about a wedding gown, my dear,” amended Dot's mother, who saw much need for judicial utterance. “And, Richard, suppose we wait and see what reports you get from the three tents and bottles

of water already sold before we make up a stock.” , i Diek looked at her half reproachfully. As a matter of fact his conscience had ■worked overtime since his three successive sales, but he felt the situation to be desperate. •‘Dear mother,” he said gravely, “if you question this business that I have done so much to perfect, just say the word and I’ll pitch it all to the dogs. There are dozens of ways for me to earve out a career of wealth—don’t you worry.” “Give up—a fortune!” gasped Dorothy. “Oh, Dick!” “There are all kinds of money in my apparatus,” he continued, “but I place myself entirely in your hands, litt'lo ma —for worse or worser.” “You shall do nothing of the sort,” said Mrs. Bonny in alarm. “I wouldn’t accept such a responsibility for worlds.” "Well, then, what about the tents —• and lime—and water?” “I don’t know. It’s getting late, Richard. You will have to go home and think it out for yourself.” Despite his exquisite joy in the wateh, the little man on Richard’s knee had cuddled in sleep against the big Warm arm. his gleeful timepiece held tightly in his thin little hand. Diek placed him tenderly down in the cot against the wall. “Then what about marrying Dot pretty soon?” he interrogated. Mrs. Bonny was shaken in her judgment nevertheless she answered according to the dictates of reason. “You said you would first accomplish something substantial in business,” she replied. “Oh, mamma!” said Dot, whose eyes were very suns to shine an ardent love upon their master. For a moment Diek wore his troubled, boyish look about the eyes. “Well,” he answered, in all his customary cheer, “I will. May I kiss Dot good-night?” "I fear —you’d better—not,” faltered M is. Bonny. “Oh, mamma!” repeated Miss Dorothy. Diek said: “May 1 kiss you, then?” “Dick!"’ ejaculated the startled lady. “Certainly not!” “All right,” assented Richard, “but I will sometime yet.” He gave a tender caress to tiny Gabriel and said goodnight. And after a little slip of time, two women missed his presence oddly, 111. For the brain to start awake frbm the depths of somnambulism is sufficiently annoying, but for conscience to leap to its feet from a state of hibernation is positively painful. Dick Rudder, ingenuous with all his worldly craft, and honest, forsooth, despite his idiosyncracies of vision, had lived by his fellow beings’stupidity with alt the serenity'and good digestion of a holy monk—till after

his talk with Mrs. Bonny. Then something had happened. In vain he stoked the furnaces of his careless cheer; in vain he oiled up the bearings of his hand-to-mouth philosophy. His spirits fan down in his shoes and Ills walking was heavy. Diek had never loved anything in all his life as he loved the three in that little unpretentious heaven. Wee Gabriel had stirred his prqfoundest sense of potential parenthood; Mrs. Bonny had been as sunshine on the garden of his manhood; and Dot, with a kiss, had crowned him with loverhood so vast that all the good that his heart could compass was magnified to dimensions incredible.

Therefore Diek was sad. His bright kaleidoscope of schemes and dollars was a broken thing. The plans with which the toy had lieen fiHisf were specious; the gold was tarnished. It was not, however, in a sudden resolve that Richard arrived at his new* state of mind. He surrendered his machinations for coining his wits reluctantly and one by one. Io his "patent” appliance for creating fumes he clung with a stubborn tenacity. He justified the cause of his lime and water with a hundred clever sophistries—but he sold no more, and the factory, situated in his active brain, was dark, silent, deserted.

For a number of days poor Dick sat with them that abide in the shadow of pessimism. Deprived of his wife, he was shorn of love, hope, and fortune in one small cataclysm. But the climax of his wretchedness was capped, one chilly afternoon, when he suddenly found himself almost face to face with a young married couple to whom he had sold an inhaler.

He was sitting in a ear; his fare had been paid; the nickel had been his last. He was weary with walking and far from home. But he bolted. Before his victims discovered him he fled, swung off on the cobbles, escaped their dread, accusing gaze, and fell far behind in the sur«e of the crowd.

that was page one of Richard's torment. It seemed thereafter as if that tall young man, who had bought the inhaler so unsuspectingly, haunted the world with his presence. He was everywhere. No corner seemed sufficiently obscure, no route was so mean that Diek could avoid a meeting with this fiend of innocence wherever he went. Richard lost sleep. He felt himself robbed of his nerve, therefore debased. That his victim pursued him he was certain. Moreover, there was Uncle loby, to whom he had sold another outfit, still to be heard from. r l o think of a visit to the Bonnys* now was unendurable. Dick's nightmares were harnessed double, for twenty-four-hour service daily. In the slough of his utter despond, Richard sat one evening at the table, in his six by ten apartment, ruminating vacuously over the prospect of existence. The day had been trying. Three times he had barely escaped’ that awful monster’ who had purchased a tent. That fate was surrounding him hourly was a thought he entertained perforce. ‘ ’ Presently the sound of a footstep in the outer hall awoke him to vague apprehension. Then a knock, as aggressive as that of the gas-man, sent, a poignard of intuition to his heart. He had no time to turn the knob. The door was impetuously opened, and there stood—that terrible man he had struggled so madly to escape. With a sickly grin poor Dick arose from his chair. “At last!” cried his visitor.

hunted this whole town over to find you, miiH* You sold me a bag— a cure for pneumonia. It worked splendidly, but we've used up all the stuff, and I'd iiko to get some more at once. My sister's child ” But Diek, running forward, fell so literally upon tin* stranger’s neck and face that he all but doubled his man upon the floor and broke off his speech with painful abruptness. “Excuse me— beg panion —- awful sorry,” blurted the all but weeping Richard. “I am so glad—so sorry about your sister’s child. 1 haven’t got an ounce of the li—of preparation here. B»st I’ll mn and get some at the—warehouse

at once. I’U be back in three minutes. Oh, lx>rd, but I’m glad!—l’m glad ycu found me, 1 mean. It—'-worked! Wh-rc a my hat?” He found the tile, and with his visitor behind him, went down the stairs to the street. ■“Just wait for me here,” said Dick, pausing on the sidewalk. “I’ll fetch t'.ifc stuff in a minute.” Jn consequently happy Richard darted around the corner, to enter the sella." of that self-same house where he abided. ,VVith two great white hunks, like st me, in hand he appeared a moment later. “I’m glad it worked,” he said impetoously and in sudden penitence. Its simply unslacked lime —and common jvator. Next time you can get a supply and always have it on hand.” -"Connßon lime aTI<I water?” repeated ithe young married man. “Why, thanks. It’s awfully good of you to let me know It works wonders. Good-might. Ana he thrust forth his hand for Dick to immeasurably happy and eased in his conscience, to think he had voluntarily revealed the secret of his new-found trade, Dick climbed again to his room, ti irM y ■wlnis’tl ing. tAnd that night he sle.pt as he always had before, as serenely as a Glaude Duval.

Hie morning brought a second instalment of astonishment. It took the form of a letter from Uncle Toby, who said in part: “Young man, I .believe there is something in you after all. Your tent and curative substances performed a miracle on my last bad cold and congested throat. 3Hess me, I wouldn t be surprised if it saved my life! Dick, Im going to make you my successor. It’s a sudden change of front, but I mean it leverv word. The enclosed is an earnest jof my intentions. Come up to see me at onoe.”

- Dick staggered a>t the size of the figures on the slip of paper contained in lire envelope. He sat 'him down and tried io think, but the whole affair was quite as inexplicable as it appeared to be real. The fact of the matter was that quite by accident Dick hud come upon a dis-, co very of exceptional worth. * The fumes of slacking lime, inhaled under cover, have extraordinary efficacy in cases of croup and congestion of the lungs and larynx. But even with evidence of all this before him, poor Dick was too unstrung to realise that he had developed 1% wliolicisome, legitimate business, as beneficial to his customers as it was to himself. What with the visit to bis uncle and the opening of new vistas of commence, wealth and importance. suddenly thrust upon him. Richard’s time tor breathing, eating, and sleeping was threatened with total elimination from his calendar,

Weary, but triumphant, confident of fortune in time, that should be hand in hand with honour, a humbled Richard came at length to the heaven of 265 West Fifteenth Avenue to tell his tale. He had planned a dignified recital, to be effectively delayed. Nevertheless, the nigh' t of Mrs Bonny, at the door, ignited all his boyish boast and fervour of impatience in a flash. “My tent worked on Uncle Toby like a charm, dear mother,” he eried. “He •thinks I siaved his life. lie lias set me up in business on a salary as big as all outdoors. I’m to be his successor and —- what’s -tihe trouble?” lie suddenly demanded. “Gabriel—he's terribly ill. He hasn't slept for days—he can't sleep. The doctor dares not give him anything. He’s going to die,” said the agonised mother an a dreadful, dry-voiced calm. “Gabriel’---oh. no! not my little Gabriel!” cried Dick as be hastened through the hall to the little fellow’s cot. “Partner —dear little chum,” he crooned, “ihere's good-for-nothing Dick come back, with candy and don't you know me, old chap ?” With a stifled groan he sank to his irws Isnide the child: little Gabriel looked at him almost with a smile, but his eyes were storing with a luniiiKwaty unhiiuuiri and frightening to sec, while some strange nervous-rigidity so ]mm»<wh<v| him filial Is- lay in a manner distressing to behold. “Cuddle up in old ,Dick’s arms.” lagged Richard cu soon as 'hr could speak. “My little boy my little m*a." Though 3hb eyes were brimming, Dick's big cheesing smile came back to >«■ li[» al the summons of love. AVrakly little Gabriel curved lia* arms tn an attempt to claap Uieni about the

strong, comfortable neck. Tlien up and down the apartment Richard commenced io walk, crooning, humming, softly reciting tales and rhymes, and patting the rigid little chap he held with his soothing hand. tstrangoly inert against the breast whiere Ire was held so lovingly, little Gabriel made no sound, but stored as ever with those sleepless, fire-lighted eyes on Richard’s face. An liour went by and Dick had only commenced his walking and his comforting. As yet not a sign liad been vouchsafed that tihe little fellow in his arms could ever rest normally again. But up and down he went, smiling unfailingly and crooning with a voice of infinite caressing. The afternoon began to wane. Tlic doctor appeared, looked silently upon the scene, and nodded approval. “It’s the only chance he’s got,” he said, and he Went away.

■Dick was patiently walking as before, walking, droning little rhymes, soothing, as only Dick could do. As the dusk of twilight crept softly into the corners of the room, little Gabriel’s body relaxed something of that singular rigidity, His eyes, however, st Hl blazed with sleeplessness. The darkness increased. Night was come. The. lamp was lighted, and still patient Dick trod to and fro across the carpet with his burden. Dot and her mother could do nothing but watch— : and yearn over Dick and the little fellow. It was eight o'clock. There had been no cessation of the crooning, the patting of the big, wihoJesome hand, or the soporific walking up and down. And at last the fierceness of the flame in tiny Gabriel's eyes was lessening. Another hour and the lids were slightly drooping. It was midnight, silent and brooding, when at last the big fellow placed his little partner in his cot, profoundly sleeping. “I’m going to be ihere when he wakes,” announced tlie weary Dick as he rose to his feet. “I'll rest a momi'nt.” and he staggered to a chair. Matured, womanised in her sacred nature, by the night of stress, Dorothy realised at last, beyond all frivolity and indecision, where lay the love of her heart and soul. She knelt beside the chair where Dick had come do a halt and held his big limp hand against her cheek. Utterly exhausted, he had fallen asleep the moment the danger-point had vanished. There was something infinitely pathetic in the boyish expression come back to its place about his eyes and lips. Mrs. Bonny looked at Diek and Dot with all the fondness of her heart brimming in her eyes. “Dear —'Dick,” she faltered. “Kiss him, Dorothy—for me.”