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+Project Gutenberg's Flip's "Islands of Providence", by Annie Fellows Johnston
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Flip's "Islands of Providence"
+
+Author: Annie Fellows Johnston
+
+Illustrator: E. F. Bonsall
+
+Release Date: July 6, 2008 [EBook #25978]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FLIP'S "ISLANDS OF PROVIDENCE" ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Garcia, Dr. Graeme M. Handisides and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+(This file was produced from images generously made
+available by The Kentuckiana Digital Library)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                               FLIP'S
+
+                              "ISLANDS
+                                 OF
+                             PROVIDENCE"
+
+                       ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON
+
+                         COSY CORNER SERIES
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+                         FLIP'S "ISLANDS OF
+                             PROVIDENCE"
+
+                              Works of
+
+                       Annie Fellows Johnston
+
+
+                     =The Little Colonel Series=
+
+                 (_Trade Mark, Reg. U. S. Pat. Of._)
+            Each one vol., large 12mo, cloth, illustrated
+
+  The Little Colonel Stories                               $1.50
+      (Containing in one volume the three stories, "The
+      Little Colonel," "The Giant Scissors," and
+      "Two Little Knights of Kentucky.")
+  The Little Colonel's House Party                          1.50
+  The Little Colonel's Holidays                             1.50
+  The Little Colonel's Hero                                 1.50
+  The Little Colonel at Boarding-School                     1.50
+  The Little Colonel in Arizona                             1.50
+  The Little Colonel's Christmas Vacation                   1.50
+  The Little Colonel: Maid of Honor                         1.50
+      The above 8 vols., _boxed_                           12.00
+
+
+                    Illustrated Holiday Editions
+
+    Each one vol., small quarto, cloth, illustrated, and printed
+                              in color
+
+  The Little Colonel                                       $1.25
+  The Giant Scissors                                        1.25
+  Two Little Knights of Kentucky                            1.25
+      The above 3 vols., _boxed_                            3.75
+
+
+                         Cosy Corner Series
+
+            Each one vol., thin 12mo. cloth, illustrated
+
+  The Little Colonel                                        $.50
+  The Giant Scissors                                         .50
+  Two Little Knights of Kentucky                             .50
+  Big Brother                                                .50
+  Ole Mammy's Torment                                        .50
+  The Story of Dago                                          .50
+  Cicely                                                     .50
+  Aunt 'Liza's Hero                                          .50
+  The Quilt that Jack Built                                  .50
+  Flip's "Islands of Providence"                             .50
+  Mildred's Inheritance                                      .50
+
+
+                             Other Books
+
+  Joel: A Boy of Galilee                                   $1.50
+  In the Desert of Waiting                                   .50
+  The Three Weavers                                          .50
+  Keeping Tryst                                              .50
+  Asa Holmes                                                1.00
+  Songs Ysame (Poems, with Allison Fellows Bacon)           1.00
+
+
+                        L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
+     200 Summer Street                          Boston, Mass.
+
+
+[Illustration: "'ALEC,' HE SAID, PAUSING IN THE DOORWAY, 'WHAT'S A
+GREEN GOODS MAN?'" (_See page 75_)]
+
+
+
+
+                         Cosy Corner Series
+
+
+                           FLIP'S "ISLANDS
+                           OF PROVIDENCE"
+
+                                 By
+
+                       Annie Fellows Johnston
+
+        Author of "Asa Holmes," "The Little Colonel Stories,"
+                         "Big Brother," etc.
+
+                          _Illustrated by_
+                            E. F. Bonsall
+
+
+                 "_I know not where His islands lift
+                    Their fronded palms in air;_"
+                                         --_Whittier_
+
+
+                        _Boston_
+                        _L.C. Page & Company_
+                                  _Publishers_
+
+
+
+
+                          _Copyright, 1902_
+              BY THE TRUSTEES OF THE PRESBYTERIAN BOARD
+                OF PUBLICATION AND SABBATH-SCHOOL WORK
+
+                          _Copyright, 1903_
+                       By L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
+                            (INCORPORATED)
+                        _All rights reserved_
+
+
+                       Published August, 1903
+
+                 _Fourth Impression, February, 1907_
+
+
+                          _Colonial Press_
+           Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co.
+                       Boston, Mass., U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+                        LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+                                                         PAGE
+
+  "'ALEC,' HE SAID, PAUSING IN THE DOORWAY,
+       'WHAT'S A GREEN GOODS MAN?'" (_See page 75_)
+                                               _Frontispiece_
+
+  "'YOU'RE BOUND TO HEAR IT SOMETIME'"                     19
+
+  "'THE LORD HAS CERTAINLY SENT YOU,
+        DICK'"                                             57
+
+  "HE MADE SEVERAL RAPID CALCULATIONS ON
+        THE BACK OF THE ENVELOPE"                         109
+
+  "'IT'S THE FIRST MONEY I EVER EARNED IN
+        MY LIFE,' SHE SAID, GLEEFULLY"                    117
+
+  "HIS HAND WENT UP INVOLUNTARILY TOWARD
+        HIS HAT"                                          145
+
+  "HE BLURTED OUT HIS TROUBLE IN BROKEN
+        SENTENCES"                                        161
+
+  "'IT WAS THAT UNLUCKY GOLD COIN'"                       177
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+                         FLIP'S "ISLANDS OF
+                             PROVIDENCE"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+Carefully locking the door of his little gable bedroom, Alec Stoker
+put down the cup of hot water he carried, and peered into the mirror
+above his wash-stand. Then, although he had come up-stairs fully
+determined to attempt his first shave, he stood irresolute, stroking
+the almost imperceptible down on his boyish lip and chin.
+
+"It does make me look older, that's a fact," he muttered to his
+reflection in the glass. "Maybe I'd better not cut it off until I've
+had my interview with the agent. The older I look, the more likely
+he'll be to trust me with a responsible position. Still," he
+continued, surveying himself critically, "I might make a more
+favourable impression if I had that 'well-groomed' look the papers
+lay so much stress on nowadays, and I could mention in a careless,
+offhand way something about having just shaved."
+
+It was not yet dark out-of-doors, but after a few minutes of further
+deliberation, Alec pulled down the blind over his window and lighted
+the lamp. Then, opening a box that he took from his bureau, he drew
+out his Grandfather Macklin's razor and ivory-handled shaving-brush.
+
+"I'm sure the old gentleman never dreamed, when they made me his
+namesake, that this was all of his property I would fall heir to," he
+thought, bitterly.
+
+The moody expression that settled on his face at the thought had
+become almost habitual in the last four weeks. The happy-go-lucky boy
+of seventeen seemed to have changed in that time to a morose man.
+June had left him the jolliest boy in the high school graduating
+class. September found him a morbid cynic.
+
+It had been nine years since his mother, just before her death, had
+brought him back to the old home for her sister Eunice to take care
+of--Alec and the little five-year-old Philippa and the baby Macklin.
+Their Aunt Eunice had made a happy home for them, and although she
+rarely laughed herself, and her hair had whitened long before its
+time, she had allowed no part of her burdens to touch their
+thoughtless young lives. It was only lately that Alec had been
+aroused to the fact that she had any burdens. He was rehearsing them
+all now, as he rubbed the lather over his chin, so busily that he did
+not hear Philippa's light step on the back stairs. Philippa could
+step very lightly when she chose, despite the fact that she was long
+and awkward, with that temporary awkwardness of a growing girl who
+finds it hard to adjust herself and her skirts to her constantly
+increasing height.
+
+Alec almost dropped his brush as she suddenly banged on his door. "Is
+that you, Flip?" he called, although he knew no one but Philippa ever
+beat such thundering tattoos on his door.
+
+"Yes! Let me in! I want to ask you something."
+
+He knew just how her sharp gray eyes would scan him, and he hesitated
+an instant, divided between a desire to let her see him in the manly
+act of shaving himself and the certain knowledge that she would tease
+him if he did.
+
+Finally he threw open the door and turned to the glass in his most
+indifferent manner, as if it were an every-day occurrence with him.
+"Come in," he said; "I'm only shaving. I'm going out this evening."
+
+If he had thought she would be impressed by his lordly air, he was
+mistaken, for, after one prolonged stare, she threw herself on the
+bed, shrieking with laughter. Long practice in bandying words with
+her brother had made her an expert tease. Usually they both enjoyed
+such combats, but now, to her surprise, he seemed indifferent to her
+most provoking comments, and scraped away at his chin in dignified
+silence.
+
+"I believe you said you had something to say to me, Philippa," he
+said presently, in a stern tone that made her stare. Never, except
+when he was very angry, did he call her anything but Flip.
+
+Suddenly sobered, she took her face out of the pillows and peered at
+him curiously, twisting one of the long plaits of hair that hung over
+her shoulder.
+
+"I have," she said. "I want to know what's the matter with you. What
+has come over you lately? You've been as sullen as a brown bear for
+days and days. I asked Aunt Eunice just now, while we were washing
+the supper dishes, what had changed you so. You used to be whistling
+and joking whenever you came near the house. Now you never open your
+lips except to make some sarcastic speech.
+
+"She said that it was probably because you were so disappointed
+about not getting that position in the bank that you had set your
+heart on, and she was afraid that you were growing discouraged
+about ever finding any position worth while in this sleepy little
+village. She didn't know that I saw it, but while she was talking
+a tear splashed right down in the dish-water, and I made up my mind
+that it must be something lots worse than just plain disappointment
+or discouragement, and that I was going to ask you. Now, you needn't
+snap your mouth shut that way, like a clam. You've got to tell me!"
+
+"Aunt Eunice doesn't want you to know," he said, turning away from
+the glass, razor in hand, to look at her intently. "But you're a big
+girl, Flip--nearly as tall as she is, if you are only fifteen. You're
+bound to hear it sometime, and in my opinion it would be better for
+you to hear it from me than to have it knock you flat coming
+unexpectedly from a stranger, as I heard it."
+
+[Illustration: "'YOU'RE BOUND TO HEAR IT SOMETIME.'"]
+
+"Tell me," she urged, her curiosity aroused.
+
+"Can you stand a pretty tough knock?"
+
+"As well as you," she answered, meeting his gaze steadily, yet with a
+queer kind of chill creeping over her at his mysterious manner.
+
+"Well, what do you suppose you and Mack and I have been living on all
+these years that we have been living with Aunt Eunice?"
+
+"Why--I--I don't know! Mother's share of Grandfather Macklin's
+property, I suppose. He divided it equally between her and Aunt
+Eunice."
+
+"Well, we just haven't!" Alec exclaimed. "That was spent before we
+came here, and nearly all of Aunt Eunice's share, too. She's been
+drawing right out of the principal the last two years so that she
+could keep us in school, and there's hardly anything left but this
+old house and the ground it stands on. She never told me until this
+summer. That's why I took the first job that offered, and drove
+Murray's delivery wagon till the regular driver was well. It wasn't
+particularly good pay, but it paid for my board and kept me from
+feeling that I was a burden on Aunt Eunice.
+
+"I was sure of getting that position in the bank. One of the
+directors had as good as promised it to me. While it wouldn't have
+paid much at first, it would have been an entering wedge, and have
+put me in the direct line of promotion. And you know that from the
+time I was Macklin's age it has been my ambition to be a banker like
+grandfather. Since I failed to get that, nobody, not even Aunt
+Eunice, knows how hard I've tried to get into some steady,
+good-paying job. I've been to every business man in the village, and
+done everything a fellow could do, seems to me, but in a little place
+like this there's absolutely no opening unless somebody dies. The
+good places are already filled by reliable, middle-aged men who have
+grown up in them. There's no use trying any longer. Every time I get
+my hopes up it's only to have them dashed to pieces--shipwrecked, you
+might say."
+
+He paused a minute, ostensibly to give his chin a fresh coating of
+lather, but in reality to gather courage for the words he found so
+difficult to say. In the silence, Macklin's voice came floating up to
+them from the porch below. Sitting on the steps in the twilight, with
+his bare feet doubled under him, he was reciting something to his
+Aunt Eunice in a high, sturdy voice. It came in shrilly through the
+open window of Alec's room, where the brown shade and overhanging
+muslin curtains flapped back and forth in the evening breeze.
+
+Philippa smiled as she listened. He was reciting a poem that Aunt
+Eunice had taught each of them in turn, after the Creed and the
+Commandments and the Catechism. It was Whittier's hymn--"The Eternal
+Goodness." She had paid them a penny a stanza for learning it, and as
+there are twenty-two stanzas in all, Philippa remembered how rich she
+felt the day she dropped the last copper down the chimney of her
+little red savings-bank.
+
+It had been seven years since Alec learned it, but the words were as
+familiar still as the letters of the alphabet. As Macklin's
+high-pitched voice reached them, Philippa joined in in a singsong
+undertone, and even Alec found himself unconsciously following the
+well-remembered lines in his thought:
+
+                 "I know not where His islands lift
+                    Their fronded palms in air;
+                  I only know I cannot drift
+                    Beyond His love and care."
+
+"There!" said Philippa, stopping abruptly, "you were talking about
+shipwrecks. According to that hymn, there's always some island ready
+for you to be washed up on. How do you know but that you're going to
+land some place where you'll be lots better off than if you'd stayed
+here in Ridgeville?"
+
+There was a contemptuous sneer on Alec's face, not pleasant to see,
+as he answered, roughly: "Bosh! That's all right for people who can
+believe in such things, but I'm past such Robinson Crusoe fables."
+
+"Why, Alec Stoker!" she cried, in amazement, "do you mean to say that
+you don't believe in Providence any more?" There was a look of horror
+on her face.
+
+He shrugged his shoulders. "I've come to think it's a case of every
+fellow for himself; sink or swim--and if you're not strong enough to
+push to shore, it's drown and leave more room for the rest."
+
+"Alec Mack--lin Sto--ker!" was all that Philippa could find breath to
+say at first. Presently she exclaimed, "I should think you'd be
+ashamed to talk so! Any boy that had such a grand old grandfather as
+you! He didn't have any better chance than you in the beginning, and
+had to struggle along for years. Look what a place he made for
+himself in the world!"
+
+"That's all you know about it!" cried Alec, his hand trembling with
+an emotion he was trying hard to control. In that instant the razor
+slipped, slightly cutting his chin.
+
+"Now!" he muttered, hastily tearing a bit of paper from the margin of
+a newspaper to stop the blood, and then rummaging in the wash-stand
+drawer for a piece of court-plaster. He was a long time adjusting it
+to his satisfaction, for the words he wanted to say would not take
+shape. He knew what he had to tell her would wound deeply, and he
+hesitated to begin. When he faced her again, his voice trembled with
+suppressed excitement. He spoke rapidly:
+
+"I may as well out with it. You want to know why I didn't get that
+position in the bank? It is because my father, J. Stillwell Stoker,
+died behind the bars of a penitentiary! I'm the son of a jailbird--a
+defaulter and a forger! That's why the bank didn't want me. They'd
+had their fingers burned with him, and didn't want to risk another of
+that name. Thought there might be something in the blood, I suppose.
+That's where all grandfather's property went, to pay it back; all but
+this house and the little Aunt Eunice kept for our support. And
+that's why mother came back here with us and died of a broken heart!
+Now do you wonder that I can't believe in the eternal goodness when
+it starts me out in life handicapped like that? Do you blame me when
+I say I am going to get out of this town and go away to some place
+where I'll not have my father's disgrace thrown in my teeth every
+time I try to do anything worth while? No wonder I'm moody! No wonder
+I'm a pessimist when I think of the legacy he's saddled us with! Aunt
+Eunice thought she could always shield us from the knowledge of it,
+but she could no more do it than she could hide fire!"
+
+Philippa sat on the bed as if stunned by the words flowing in such a
+vehement rush from her brother's lips. She was white and trembled. "O
+Alec," she gasped, with a shudder, "it can't be true!" Then, after a
+distressing silence, she sobbed, "Does everybody know it?"
+
+"Everybody in the village now, but little Mack, and he'll have to be
+knocked flat with the fact some day, I suppose, just as we have
+been."
+
+Philippa shivered and drew herself up into a disconsolate bunch
+against the foot-board. "To think of the way I've prided myself on
+our family!" she said, in a husky voice. "I've actually bragged of
+the Macklins and paraded the virtues of my ancestors."
+
+Alec made no answer. Down-stairs the big kitchen clock slowly struck
+seven.
+
+"I'll have to hurry," he remarked. Catching up his blacking-brush, he
+began polishing his shoes in nervous haste. "It's later than I
+thought. I'm due at the hotel in thirty minutes."
+
+"At the hotel!" repeated Philippa, wondering dully how he could take
+any interest in anything more in life, knowing all that had blighted
+their young lives.
+
+"Yes; but don't you tell Aunt Eunice until it's all settled. I
+promised to meet a man there, who's been talking to me about a
+position a thousand miles from here. He's interested in a
+manufacturing business. His firm has a scheme for making money hand
+over fist. He didn't tell me what it is, but he wants some young
+fellow about my age to go into it. 'Somebody who can keep his mouth
+shut,' he said, 'write a good letter, and make a favourable
+impression on strangers in introducing the goods.' Stumpy Fisher
+introduced me to him last night, and he gave me a hint of what he
+might do if I suited. Seemed to think I was just the man for the
+place. There's another fellow after it, but he thought I'd make a
+better impression on strangers, and that is a great consideration in
+their business. We're to settle it this evening, as he has to leave
+on the nine o'clock train. If we come to terms, he'll want me to
+follow next week."
+
+"Stumpy Fisher introduced you?" repeated Philippa; "why, he--he's the
+man that runs the Golconda, isn't he?"
+
+"Yes," admitted Alec, inwardly resenting the disapproval in her tone.
+"They do gamble in there, I know, and sometimes have a pretty tough
+row, but Stumpy is as kind-hearted a man as there is in the village."
+
+Throwing the blacking-brush hastily back into its box, Alec
+straightened himself up and faced his sister, "There, skip along now,
+Flip, like a good girl. I have to dress. And don't say a word to Aunt
+Eunice. I'll tell her myself."
+
+Philippa rose slowly from the bed and started toward the door. "I
+feel as if I were in a horrible nightmare," she said. "What you have
+just told me about our--him, you know, and then your going away to
+live. It's all so sudden and so dreadful. O Alec, I can't stand it to
+have you go!"
+
+To his great surprise and confusion, for Philippa had never been
+demonstrative in her affection, she threw her arms round his neck,
+and, dropping her head on his shoulder, began sobbing violently.
+
+"Oh, come now, Flip," he protested, awkwardly patting the heavy
+braids of hair swung over her shoulder; "I wouldn't have told you if
+I'd thought you'd take it so. I thought you had so much grit that
+you'd stand by me and back me up if Aunt Eunice objected. We're not
+going to be separated for ever. From what the man told me of the
+business, I'm sure that I can make enough in a year or so to send for
+you. Then you can come and keep house for me, and we'll pay back
+every cent we've cost Aunt Eunice, so she'll have something in her
+old age. Oh, stop crying, like a good girl, Flip! Don't make it any
+harder for me than it already is. You don't want me to be late, do
+you, and miss the best chance of my life? Punctuality counts for
+everything when a man's looking for a reliable employee."
+
+Without a word, but still sobbing, Philippa rushed from the room. He
+heard her going down the back stairs and across the kitchen. When the
+outer door closed behind her, he knew as well as if he had seen her
+that she was running down the orchard path to her old refuge in the
+June-apple-tree.
+
+"The stars ought to be out now," thought Alec, a few minutes later,
+as he slipped into his best coat. Pulling up the shade, he peered out
+through the open window. "There'll not be any to-night," he added;
+"looks as if it would rain."
+
+The wind was rising. It blew the muslin curtains softly across his
+face. It had driven Miss Eunice and Macklin from the porch. Alec
+could hear their voices in the sitting-room. Suddenly another puff of
+wind blew the hall door shut, and the cheerful sound was lost.
+
+"It's certainly going to storm!" he exclaimed, aloud. Raising his
+lamp for one more scrutiny of himself in the little mirror, he set it
+on his desk, while he hunted in the closet for an umbrella.
+
+When he reached the hotel, it was in the deepest voice that he could
+summon that he asked to be shown to Mr. Humphrey Long's room. Then he
+blushed, startled by its unfamiliar sound; it was so deep.
+
+Mr. Long was busy, he was told. He had been closeted in his room for
+an hour with a stranger who had taken supper with him, and had left
+orders that Alec, if he came, was not to be shown up till the other
+man had gone.
+
+Alec wandered from the office into the parlour, walking round
+nervously while he waited. Half an hour went by. He watched the clock
+anxiously, than desperately. The minutes were slipping by so fast
+that he was afraid there would be no time for his turn before the bus
+started to the train. What if the other man should be taken in his
+stead after all Mr. Long's fair speeches! The thought made him break
+into a cold perspiration. He drummed nervously on the table beside
+him with impatient fingers.
+
+Presently, through his absorption, came the consciousness that the
+bell in the town hall was clanging the fire alarm. It was an unusual
+sound in the quiet little village. Noisy shouts in the next street
+proclaimed that the volunteer fire brigade was dragging out the
+hand-power engine and hose reel. From all directions came the sound
+of hurrying feet and the cry of "Fire! fire!"
+
+He rushed to the door and looked out. Half a mile toward the north,
+he judged the distance to be, an angry glow was spreading upward. It
+was in the direction of his home.
+
+"Where's the fire, Bob?" called a voice across the street.
+
+"The old Macklin house," was the answer, tossed back over a man's
+shoulder as he ran. Instantly there flashed into Alec's mind the
+remembrance of the muslin curtains flapping across his face, and the
+lamp left near them on his desk. Had he blown it out or not? He could
+not remember. He tried to think as he dashed up the street after the
+running crowds.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+There was no faster runner in the village than Alec Stoker. In the
+last two field-day contests he had carried off the honours, and now
+he surpassed all previous records in that mad dash from the hotel to
+the burning house.
+
+Swift as he was, however, the flames were bursting from the windows
+of his room by the time he reached the gate, and curling up over the
+eaves with long, licking tongues. It was as he had feared. He had
+forgotten to put out the light, the curtains had blown over it, and,
+fanned by the rising wind, the fire had leaped from curtain to bed,
+from mosquito-bar to wall, until the whole room was in a blaze.
+
+Shielded by the tall cedars in front of the house, it had burned some
+time before a passing neighbour discovered it. By the time the alarm
+brought any response, the upper story was full of stifling pine
+smoke. The yard swarmed with neighbours when Alec reached it. In and
+out they ran, bumping precious old family portraits against wash-tubs
+and coal-scuttles, emptying bureau drawers into sheets, and dumping
+books and dishes in a pile in the orchard, in wildest confusion.
+Everything was taken out of the lower story. Even the carpets were
+ripped up from the floors before the warning cry came to stand back,
+that the roof was about to fall in. The fire brigade turned its
+attention to saving the barn, but that was old, too, and burned like
+tinder, as the breath of the approaching storm fanned the flames
+higher and higher.
+
+As Alec leaned back against the fence, breathless and flushed from
+his frantic exertions, Philippa came up to him, carrying the parlour
+clock and her best hat.
+
+"Come on," she said; "we've got to get all these things under shelter
+before the storm strikes us, or they'll be spoiled. Mrs. Sears has
+offered us part of her house. There are four empty rooms in the west
+wing, and Aunt Eunice says that we can't do any better than to take
+them for awhile."
+
+Again the neighbours came to the rescue, and, spurred on by the
+warning thunder, hurried the scattered household goods into shelter.
+They were all piled into one room in a hopeless tangle.
+
+"We'll not attempt to straighten out anything to-night," said Miss
+Eunice, looking round wearily when the last sympathetic neighbour had
+departed in time to escape the breaking storm. She and Philippa had
+accepted Mrs. Sears's offer of her guest-chamber for the night.
+Macklin had gone home with the minister's son. Alec had had many
+invitations, but he refused them all. With a morbid feeling that
+because his carelessness caused the fire he ought to do penance and
+not allow himself to be comfortable, he pulled a pillow and a
+mattress from the pile of goods into the empty room adjoining, and
+threw himself down on that.
+
+In the excitement of the scene through which he had just passed, he
+had entirely forgotten the engagement he had run away from. Now, as
+he stretched himself wearily out on the mattress, it flashed across
+his mind that he had failed to keep his appointment, and that the man
+had gone. A groan of disappointment escaped him.
+
+"If I wasn't born to a dog's luck!" he exclaimed, "to miss a position
+like that just when we need it the most. Goodness only knows what we
+are going to do now. But I needn't say that. It's a hard world, and
+there's no goodness in it."
+
+The next instant, he pulled the sheet over his eyes to shut out the
+blinding glare of lightning that lit up the empty room. The crash of
+thunder that followed seemed to his distorted fancy the defiant
+challenge of all the powers of darkness. All sorts of rebellious
+thoughts flocked through the boy's mind, as he lay there in the
+darkness of the empty room, thinking bitterly of his thwarted plans.
+Midnight always magnifies troubles, and as he brooded over his
+disappointments and railed at his fate, not only his past wrongs
+loomed up to colossal size, but a vague premonition of worse evil to
+come began to weigh on him. It was nearly morning before he dropped
+into a troubled sleep.
+
+Refreshed by a long night's rest and the tempting breakfast Mrs.
+Sears spread for her three guests, Philippa soon recovered her usual
+gay spirits. The news that Alec had disclosed the night before, which
+sent her stunned and heart-sick to her retreat in the old apple-tree,
+had faded into the background in the excitement of the fire. She
+thought of it all the time she was dressing, but the keenness of her
+distress was not so overwhelming as it had been. It was like some old
+pain that had lost its worst sting in the healing passage of time.
+
+She was young enough to take a keen pleasure in the novelty of the
+situation, and ran up-stairs and down with hammer and broom, laughing
+and joking over the settlement of every picture and piece of
+furniture with contagious good humour. Alec could not understand it.
+Even his Aunt Eunice was not as downcast as he had pictured her in
+the night, over the loss of her old home. With patient, steady
+effort, she moved along, bringing order out of confusion, and when
+Philippa's fresh young voice up-stairs broke out in the song that had
+come to be regarded as the family hymn, she joined in, at her work
+below, with a full, strong alto:
+
+               "Yet, in the maddening maze of things,
+                  Though tossed by storm and flood,
+                To one fixed trust my spirit clings:
+                  I know that God is good."
+
+"Jine in, Br'er Stoker," called Philippa, laughingly waving her
+duster in the doorway. "Why don't you sing?"
+
+Alec, who was prone on the floor, tacking down a bedroom carpet,
+hammered away without an answer. After waiting a minute, she dropped
+down on the floor beside him, upsetting a saucer full of tacks as she
+did so. "Say, Alec," she began, in a confidential tone, "what did the
+man at the hotel say last night? Is he going to take you?"
+
+"Of course not," was the sulky reply. "You didn't suppose I'd be
+lucky enough for that, did you? I didn't even see him. Another fellow
+was there ahead of me, and the fire-alarm sounded while I waited, and
+then it was all up. I couldn't dally round waiting for an interview
+when our home was burning, could I?"
+
+"Maybe he left some word for you," she suggested.
+
+"No; I ran down to the hotel to inquire, just as soon as I got the
+kitchen stove set up this morning. He left on the nine o'clock train
+last night, as he warned me he would, and as I didn't come according
+to my agreement, that's the last he'll ever think of me. Such luck as
+mine is, anyhow! It was my anxiety to get the place that made me go
+off and leave the lamp burning, and now I've not only missed the last
+chance I'll ever have, but I've been the means of burning the roof
+off from over our heads. You haven't any idea of the way I feel,
+Flip. I'm desperate! It fairly sets my teeth on edge to hear you go
+round singing of 'The Eternal Goodness' when I'm knocked out every
+way I turn, no matter how hard I try."
+
+"But, Alec," she answered, between taps of his noisy hammer, "it's
+foolish of you to take it so to heart, and look on nothing but the
+dark side. Of course, it is dreadful to be burned out of house and
+home, but it might have been lots worse. All the down-stairs
+furniture was saved, and the insurance company is going to put us up
+a nice little cottage as soon as possible. We were not without a roof
+over our heads for one single hour. Before the old one fell in, Mrs.
+Sears offered these rooms, and already things are beginning to look
+homelike. Mrs. Sears was one of our 'islands.'
+
+"There we were, you see. It was black night, and we didn't know which
+way to turn, but here were these empty rooms, all nice and clean,
+waiting for us. And it will be the same way about your getting a
+place if you don't lose faith and courage. You'll float along awhile
+farther, and when you're least expecting it, you'll come on your
+island that's been waiting for you all the time."
+
+"Oh, you don't know what you're talking about, Flip," answered Alec,
+impatiently, pounding away harder than ever. "You make me tired."
+
+"I do know what I'm talking about," she retorted, scrambling to her
+feet; "and I'll let you know, sir, my singing doesn't set your teeth
+on edge half as bad as your sour looks do mine. I wouldn't be such a
+grumble-bug! You act like a baby instead of a boy who prides himself
+on being old enough to shave."
+
+With this parting thrust, she flounced out of the room, unmindful of
+what he called after her, but she thought, guiltily, as she ran, "Now
+I've done it! He'll be furious all day; but I just had to! He needed
+somebody to shake him up out of himself, and I don't care!"
+
+Nevertheless, she sang no more that day, and a few tears dropped on
+her books, as she made a place for them on the shelves. All Alec's
+had been burned. He had lost more than any of them, for his was the
+only up-stairs room that was occupied. Philippa loved her brother too
+dearly not to suffer with him in all his losses and disappointments.
+
+It was a day of hard work for all of them, but four energetic,
+determined people can accomplish much, especially when one is a
+ten-year-old boy, whose sturdy legs can make countless trips up and
+down stairs without tiring, and another is an athletic young fellow
+with the endurance of a man.
+
+Late in the afternoon, Alec made a final round of inspection.
+Up-stairs the two bedrooms were in spotless order. They were
+furnished even better than those in the old house, for the library
+rugs and curtains had found place there, with some of the best
+pictures and ornaments. Down-stairs Philippa was standing in the
+centre of the room, about to remove the cover and lamp from the
+dining-room table.
+
+"Now it is the parlour," she said, gaily, waving her hand toward the
+old piano, the bookcases, and the familiar bric-à-brac on the mantel.
+"But shut your eyes a minute, and--_abracadabra!_ it's the
+dining-room." As she spoke, she whisked a white cloth on the old
+claw-footed mahogany table, and, throwing open a closet door,
+displayed the orderly rows of china.
+
+"We'll not have much for supper to-night, but I'm bound it shall be
+set out in style to celebrate our house-warming; so, Mack, if you
+have any legs left to toddle on, I wish you'd run out and get me a
+handful of purple asters to put in this glass bowl. I am glad that it
+wasn't broken. Some kind but agitated friend pitched it out of the
+window into the geranium bed."
+
+She rattled along gaily, with a furtive side-glance at Alec. He had
+had nothing to say to her since her outburst up-stairs, and now,
+ignoring her pleasantries, he walked into the kitchen in his most
+dignified manner.
+
+"Is there anything more you want me to do, Aunt Eunice?" he asked.
+
+Finding that there was nothing just then, he went out to the side
+porch opening off the room which was to be used as both dining-room
+and parlour. He had hung the hammock there a little while before, and
+he threw himself into it with a sigh of relief. Swinging back and
+forth in the shelter of the vines, the feeling of comfort began to
+steal over him that comes with the relaxation of tired muscles. The
+rattle of dishes and aroma of hot coffee coming out to him were
+pleasantly suggestive to his healthy young appetite.
+
+He closed his eyes, not intending to go to sleep, but the hammock
+stopped swinging almost instantly, and he did not hear the footsteps
+going past him a few minutes later, nor his Aunt Eunice's surprised
+cry of welcome as a tall, bearded stranger knocked at the door.
+
+The continuous murmur of voices finally roused him, and he lay there
+blinking and listening, trying to recognize the deep bass voice that
+laughed and talked so familiarly with his aunt.
+
+"The Lord has certainly sent you, Dick," Alec heard her say in a
+tremulous tone, and then he knew instantly who had come.
+
+[Illustration: "'THE LORD HAS CERTAINLY SENT YOU, DICK.'"]
+
+All his life he had heard of Dick Willis, one of the many boys his
+grandfather had befriended and taken into the shelter of his home for
+awhile. Dick had lived five years in the old house that had just
+burned, when Eunice and Sally Macklin were children; and all the
+stories of their school days were full of their foster-brother's
+mischievous sayings and doings.
+
+That the harum-scarum boy had given place to this middle-aged,
+successful business man, with the deep voice and big whiskers, was
+hard for Alec to realize, for in all Miss Eunice's reminiscences he
+had kept the perennial prankishness of youth. But now Alec,
+listening, learned the changes that had taken place since the man's
+last visit to his home. He had thought every year that he would come
+back for another visit, he told Miss Eunice, but he had put it off
+from season to season, hard pressed by the demands of business, and
+now it was too late for him to ever see the old homestead again. He
+had seen an account of the fire in a paper which he read on the train
+on his way East, and he decided to stop his journey long enough to
+run over to the old place for a few hours, and see if she did not
+need his help. He wanted her to feel that he stood ready to give it
+to the extent of his power, and expected her to call upon him as
+freely as if he were a real brother.
+
+Then it was that Miss Eunice's tremulous voice exclaimed again: "The
+Lord has certainly sent you, Dick! I have been worried for weeks over
+Alec's future. There is no outlook here in the village for him. If
+you could only get him a position somewhere--" She paused, the tears
+in her eyes. Alec listened breathlessly for his answer.
+
+"Why didn't you write me before this, Eunice? My business, travelling
+for a wholesale shoe house, takes me over a wide territory and gives
+me a large acquaintance. I am sure that I can get him into something
+or other very soon. You know that I would do anything for Sally's
+boy, and when you add to that the fact that he is Alexander Macklin's
+grandson, and I owe everything I am under heaven to that man, you may
+know that I'd leave no stone unturned to repay a little of his
+kindness to me."
+
+Alec's heart gave a great throb of hope. The good cheer of the hearty
+voice inspired him with a courage he had not felt in weeks. There was
+a patter of bare feet down the garden path, and, peering out between
+the vines, Alec saw one of the neighbour's boys coming in with a big
+dish covered carefully with a napkin.
+
+"It's fried chicken," announced the boy, with a grin, as Alec went
+down the step to meet him. "Mother said to eat it while it was hot.
+She knew you all would be too tired to cook much to-night."
+
+Without waiting to hear Alec's thanks, he scampered down the path
+again and squeezed through the gap in the fence made by a missing
+picket. Alec carried the dish round the house to the kitchen, where
+Philippa was putting the finishing touches to the supper, in her
+aunt's stead.
+
+"Did you know that Uncle Dick has come?" she asked, joyfully. "Oh,
+how good of Mrs. Pine to send the chicken! We didn't have anything
+for supper but coffee and rolls and eggs. He's certainly bringing
+good things in his wake. How delicious that chicken does smell! Let's
+take it as a good omen, Alec, a forerunner of better days. He'll
+surely get you out of your slough of despond."
+
+"Who, Flip? The chicken or Uncle Dick?" asked Alec, in his old
+jesting way, giving one of her long braids a tweak as he passed. A
+heavy load seemed to lift itself from Philippa's heart at this sign
+of Alec's return to his merry old self. All during supper she kept
+glancing at him, for, absorbed in their guest's interesting
+reminiscences, he seemed to have forgotten the grievances he had
+brooded over so long, and laughed and joked as he had not done for
+weeks.
+
+To their great regret, Uncle Dick had to leave that night. Alec
+walked to the station with him, feeling that he was being subjected
+to a very close cross-examination as to his capabilities and
+preferences. The train was late, and as they sat in the waiting-room,
+the man fell into a profound silence, his hands thrust into his
+pockets and his brows drawn together in deep thought.
+
+Finally he said: "You want to be a banker, like your grandfather.
+Well, I can't manage that, my boy. My influence doesn't lie in that
+direction. The best I can do is to get you in with the firm that
+manufactures all the shoes I sell. It is a big concern. The general
+manager of the factory at Salesbury is a good friend of mine, and I
+happen to know he is on the lookout for a reliable young fellow to
+put in training as his assistant. He is constantly giving somebody a
+trial, but nobody measures up to his requirements. Whoever takes it
+must go through a regular apprenticeship in the factory and learn the
+business from the ground up. According to his ideas, you'd not be
+fitted until you'd tried your hand at every piece of machinery in the
+factory, and knew how to turn out a pair of shoes from the raw
+leather. The wages will be small at first. Some of the duties are
+disagreeable, many of the requirements exacting, but promotion is
+rapid, and probably by the end of the year you'd be in the office,
+learning to take an oversight of the different departments; that is,
+if you had proved there was good stuff in you. If money is what you
+are after, this opening is better a thousand times than anything the
+village bank could give you in years, and in my opinion it's just as
+respectable a calling to handle leather as lucre. You'll have to work
+and work hard."
+
+"I don't mind how hard the work is," answered Alec. "I hate to give
+up the one thing that has been my ambition all my life, but I have
+come to the point where I'd do anything honest to get a place
+somewhere out of this town. I'd even scrub floors. You don't know
+what I've been through this summer, Uncle Dick. Of course, you know
+about my father?"
+
+He asked the question with such bitterness of tone that his listener
+scanned his face intently, then sympathetically.
+
+"Well, I must get away from that," Alec continued. "It's an awful
+handicap. The thought of it made me desperate at times. If they
+should hear about him in Salesbury and turn me down on his
+account--well, I'd just give up! I couldn't stand any more than I
+have already suffered on his account."
+
+There was no answer for a minute, then the deep voice answered,
+cheerily: "Alec, your grandmother Macklin once told me that when she
+was a very small child she went to visit her grandmother; quite a
+remote ancestor of yours that would be, wouldn't it? For some reason,
+she was put to sleep in a trundle-bed in the old lady's room, and
+along late in the night she was awakened by a very earnest voice. She
+sat up in the little trundle-bed to listen, and there was the old
+saint on her knees, praying for--now, what do you suppose? For 'all
+her posterity to the latest generation!' She said she didn't
+understand then what the words meant, but years afterward, when she
+held her first baby in her arms, they came back to her with a feeling
+of awe, to think that prayers uttered for him, long years before he
+was born, were still working to his blessing.
+
+"It is the same with you, Alec. Evil influences were set afloat by
+your father's crime that will undoubtedly work against you many a
+time, but you must remember all the good that lies on the other hand
+to counteract them. Even your great-great-grandmother's prayers must
+count for something in your behalf. I remember that Alexander Macklin
+planted an apple orchard after he was eighty years old. He never
+lived to gather even its first harvest, but you have been enjoying it
+all your life. He did a thousand unrecorded kindnesses that brought
+him no returns seemingly, but 'bread cast upon the waters' does come
+back after many days, my boy, every time. And you will be eating the
+results of that scattering all your life. The little that I may be
+able to do for you will only be the result of kindness he showed me,
+and which I could not repay, but am glad now to pass it on to his
+grandson. Don't grow bitter because of your father, and say that fate
+has handicapped you. That admission of itself will sap your courage
+and go far toward defeating you. Say, instead, '_The Eternal
+Goodness_ will more than compensate for the evil that this one man
+has wrought me.' Then go on, trusting in that, and win in spite of
+everything. The harder the struggle the more praise to the victor,
+you know."
+
+The whistle of the approaching train brought his little sermon to a
+close, and, seizing his satchel, he started hurriedly to the door.
+"I'll see the manager in a few days," he continued, hurriedly. "I
+have only a few stops to make this time on my way to Salesbury.
+Probably I'll have something definite to write you the last of the
+week. Good-bye and good luck to you!" He shook hands heartily, swung
+himself up on the platform, and disappeared into the car.
+
+Philippa was waiting in the hammock with a shawl over her head when
+Alec returned. The moonlight nights were chilly, but she could not
+bear to go inside until she heard the result of their conversation.
+
+"Oh, Alec," she exclaimed, as he came up wide awake and glowing from
+his walk and his hopeful interview, "wasn't it just like a lovely
+story to have the traditional uncle drop down long enough to restore
+the family fortunes and then disappear again?"
+
+"Yes, you're a good prophet," he laughed. "I drifted on to my island
+when I least expected it, and in the middle of my darkest night.
+Salesbury is four hundred miles from here, Flip, and we sha'n't see
+each other often, so if it will be any comfort to you, you may say,
+'I told you so,' three times a day, from now on until I leave."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+Philippa, coming home from school one afternoon, late in September,
+loitered at the gate for a few more words with the girls who had
+walked that far with her. Sometimes the little group lingered there
+until nearly sundown, between the laburnum bushes and hollyhocks of
+the old garden, but to-day, Alec's impatient whistle from an upper
+window signalled her. He waved a letter toward her, calling,
+excitedly, "It's come, Flip! It's come! I'm to start in the morning.
+I'm packing my trunk now."
+
+With a hurried good-bye to the girls at the gate, Philippa rushed up
+the stairs to her brother's room. The bureau drawers had all been
+emptied on the bed, and every chair was full.
+
+"Here's some things that need buttons," he announced, as she came in.
+"Aunt Eunice is pressing my best suit, and Mack has gone down-town
+after the shoes that I left to be half-soled. I'll have to rush, for
+the letter says to come at once. I didn't suppose they'd be in such a
+hurry. They're hustlers, I guess."
+
+His haste was so contagious that Philippa ran into the next room for
+her sewing-basket, without waiting to take off her hat, and sitting
+down on the floor beside the window began to sew on buttons as fast
+as she asked questions. She always had plenty to say to Alec, and now
+that the time for conversation was limited to a few short hours, she
+could not talk fast enough.
+
+Presently the click of the gate made her look out. "Here comes Mack,"
+she said. "Your shoes are wrapped in a newspaper, and he's so busy
+reading something on it that he doesn't know where he is going. Look
+out, snail!" she called; "you'll bump into the house in a minute if
+you are not careful!"
+
+The boy came slowly up the stairs still spelling out the paragraph
+that interested him.
+
+"Alec," he said, pausing in the doorway, "what's a green goods man?
+This says that a gang of 'em were arrested in New York. The
+detectives traced them by a letter one of them left here in
+Ridgeville at the hotel. Think of that! Jonas Clark is the man's real
+name, alias H-u-m-p-h," he spelled, "Humphrey (I guess it is) Long."
+
+Alec snatched the knotty bundle and glanced at the paragraph so
+eagerly that Philippa looked at him in surprise. She was still more
+surprised to see a deep flush spread over his face, as he tore the
+newspaper off the shoes and glanced at the date. Then he dropped it
+on the bed and began to fumble for something in the bottom of his
+trunk, saying, carelessly, "Oh, green goods men are just fellows who
+rope people in to buy counterfeit money. Here, Mack, you'll not have
+a chance to run many more errands for me. Trot down to Aunt Eunice
+with these neckties, please, and ask her to press them for me while
+she's in the business."
+
+As soon as Mack disappeared, Alec caught up the paper again. "Flip,"
+he said, in an impressive voice, after his second reading, "do you
+remember the night of the fire I was to meet a man at the hotel and
+make the final arrangement with him for taking a position he had
+offered me?"
+
+Philippa nodded.
+
+"Well, that is the man; Humphrey Long. Think of what I have escaped.
+From what he said about his sure scheme for making money and making
+it easy, I know now that is what he meant; but I never suspected such
+a thing then. He was the smoothest talker I ever saw, and was as
+gentlemanly and well dressed as the minister. And such a way as he
+had! He could almost make a body believe that black was white.
+Suppose I had gone off with him. Whillikens! but I would be in hot
+water now! Everybody would have said, 'Only a chip off the old block.
+Just what might have been expected with such a father.'"
+
+"But, Alec, you wouldn't have gone after he had told you what his
+business was!" Philippa exclaimed, in a horrified tone. "You know
+that you wouldn't."
+
+"No," he answered, slowly, "but I think now that he intended to keep
+me in the dark till he got me just where he wanted me, in too deep to
+inform on them. And I was so desperate for a job away from here that
+I would have accepted his offer with very few questions. Don't you
+see, my very ignorance of his schemes would have made me a better
+decoy in some cases than if I had not been such an innocent young
+duck. Of course, Stumpy Fisher told him all about me," he added,
+after a moment's thought. "He might have counted on my being enough
+like my father to take kindly to his crookedness."
+
+"How queerly things work out!" said Philippa. "If you had had your
+own way, you'd have been off with that man and probably in jail with
+him now. But the fire stopped you. And if it hadn't been for the
+fire, Uncle Dick never would have been aroused to the necessity of
+leaving his business long enough to make us a visit, and if it hadn't
+been for the visit you never would have had this position in
+Salesbury."
+
+"That's so," Alec assented, gravely. "It's a whole chain of those
+islands that you and Aunt Eunice are always singing about. I'll make
+a map of them some day and name each one: 'Fire Island,' 'Isle of
+Uncle Dick,' etc. Then I'll name the whole group after you: 'Flip's
+Providence Islands,' or something like that."
+
+Then the subject was dropped, as Macklin came clattering back up the
+stairs.
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+If the history of Alec's experiences during the next few weeks could
+have been written, it would have differed little from that of
+thousands of boys who yearly leave farm and village to push their way
+into the already overcrowded cities. Eager and hopeful, his ambition
+placed no limit to the success he meant to achieve. That he might
+fall short of the goal he set for himself never once entered his
+thoughts. He knew the conditions requisite to success, and felt an
+honest pride in the consciousness that he could meet them. He had a
+strong, healthy body, a thorough education so far as the high school
+could take him, good habits, and high ideals.
+
+As the train whirled him on toward Salesbury, he felt that at last he
+was placing himself in line with the long list of illustrious men who
+had begun life as poor boys and ended it as the benefactors of
+mankind. And he felt that he had a distinct advantage over Franklin
+and some of his ilk, for he faced his future with far more than a
+loaf of bread under his arm. Forward in the baggage-car his
+grandfather's old leather trunk held ample provision for his present,
+and an assured position awaited him.
+
+Salesbury was not a large city, but it seemed a crowded metropolis to
+Alec's eyes, accustomed to the quiet life of the little inland
+village. But it was not as a gaping backwoodsman he viewed its
+sights. If he had never seen a trolley-car before, he had carefully
+studied the power that propels one. The whir and clang, the rush of
+automobiles, the pounding of machinery in the great factory all
+seemed familiar, because they were a part of the world he had learned
+to know in his extensive reading. Keenly alive to new impressions, he
+was so interested in everything that went on round him that he had
+little time to be lonesome at first.
+
+He stayed only a few days at the hotel. Anxious to repay his Aunt
+Eunice as soon as possible the money she had spent in replenishing
+his wardrobe after the fire, and defraying his travelling expenses,
+he took a room in a lodging-house, and his meals at a cheap
+restaurant. In that way he was able to save nearly twice as much each
+week toward cancelling his indebtedness.
+
+The letters he wrote home were re-read many times. They were so
+bright and cheerful and full of interesting descriptions. He didn't
+like the work in the factory, but he liked the manager, and with the
+determination to make his apprenticeship as short as possible and
+gain a place in the office, he pegged away with a faithfulness and
+energy that he felt sure must bring a speedy reward.
+
+Not till the cold November nights came did Miss Eunice detect a
+little note of homesickness creeping into his letters. She would not
+have wondered could she have looked in on him while he wrote,
+buttoned up in his overcoat and with his hat on. His chilly little
+bedroom, with its dim lamp and worn matting, was a dismal contrast to
+the cheerful home where he had always spent his winter evenings. Then
+she noticed that there was nearly always some reference to the
+restaurant fare, some longing expressed for one more taste of her
+cooking--the good cream gravy, the mince turnovers, the crisp
+doughnuts that had been his favourite dishes at home.
+
+Once he wrote to Philippa:
+
+    "Think of it, Flip! I don't know a single girl in town.
+    Excepting my landlady, I haven't spoken to a woman since I
+    pulled out of the depot at Ridgeville two months ago. It seems
+    so strange to know only the factory fellows, when at home I
+    was acquainted with everybody. The manager, Mr. Windom, has a
+    pretty daughter whom I'd give a good deal to know. She drives
+    down to the office with him sometimes, and I see her at church.
+    She looks something like your chum, Nordic Gray, laughing sort
+    of eyes, and soft, light hair, and a saucy little nose like
+    your own."
+
+Later, in a reply to a question from Miss Eunice, he wrote:
+
+    "No, I haven't put in my church letter yet. I took it with me
+    every Sunday for awhile, but I can't get screwed up to the
+    point, somehow. People here are so stand-offish with strangers.
+    I've gone pretty regularly, but nobody has spoken to me yet. I
+    suppose they think that a gawky country boy doesn't belong in
+    such a fashionable congregation. The minister doesn't come down
+    after service to shake hands with people, as Doctor Meldrum
+    does at home. They have a Christian Endeavour Society that I
+    think might be nice if there was any way of breaking the ice to
+    get into it. The young people seem to have the best kind of
+    times among themselves, but they don't seem to care for anybody
+    that hasn't the inside track in their exclusive little circle."
+
+Then the letters grew shorter. "He had no time to write during the
+day," he explained. At night he was either so tired that he went to
+bed as soon as he had his supper, or some of the boys that worked
+where he did came round for him to go out with them. He had been to
+the library several times, and to a free band-concert. When he was
+out of debt, he intended to get a season lecture course ticket and go
+to other entertainments once in awhile to keep from getting the
+blues.
+
+He did not mention some of the other places to which he had gone with
+the boys. It would only worry his Aunt Eunice, he thought. Probably
+she wouldn't think it was any harm if she lived in the city. People
+in little places were apt to be narrow-minded, he told himself. He
+could feel that his own opinions were broadening every day.
+
+He wrote to Macklin on Thanksgiving Day, saying that he intended to
+make the most of his holiday and skate all the afternoon. He was glad
+that he had brought his skates, for the ice was in fine condition.
+That was the last letter home for two weeks.
+
+While Miss Eunice worried, and Philippa haunted the post-office, he
+was lying ill in his cheerless little bedroom, on the top floor of
+the cheap lodging-house. He had skated not only Thanksgiving
+afternoon, but again at night when the ice was illuminated by
+bonfires and lanterns. There was a danger-signal posted farther down
+where the ice was thin. He had avoided it all the afternoon, but
+intent on cutting some fancy figure one of the boys had taught him,
+he did not notice how near he was to the dangerous spot until he
+heard a cracking noise all round him, and it was too late to save
+himself from a plunge into the icy water.
+
+Although he was helped out immediately, and ran every step of the way
+to his room, he was shaking with a chill when he reached it. All the
+covering he could pile on the bed did not stop the chattering of his
+teeth as he lay shivering between the cold sheets. In the morning he
+was burning with fever. There was such a sharp pain in his lungs that
+he could not draw a full breath.
+
+He tried to get up and dress, but the attempt made him so weak and
+dizzy that he could only stagger back to bed and lie there in a sort
+of stupor. It was not quite clear to him who brought a doctor, but
+one came in the course of the morning and left two kinds of little
+pellets and a glass of water on the chair beside his bed. He was to
+take two pink pellets every hour and one white one every two hours,
+he was told.
+
+There was no clock in the room, and he had no watch, but the
+engine-house bell in the next block clanged the alarm regularly.
+
+The responsibility of giving himself his own medicine kept him from
+dropping asleep as he longed to do. He would doze for a few minutes
+and start up, fearing that he had let the time go by, or that he had
+taken a double dose, or that he had confused directions. Was it two
+pink ones or two white ones, or one hour or two hours? He said it
+over and over with every variation possible. The confusion was
+maddening.
+
+The pain in his lungs grew worse. He was burning with thirst, but
+there was no more water in the glass. He looked round the room with
+feverish, aching eyes, that suddenly filled with hot tears. If he
+could only be back in his own room at home, with Aunt Eunice to care
+for him, and Flip to make him comfortable, how good it would seem! He
+was tasting to the dregs the misery of being ill, all alone among
+strangers.
+
+Toward evening the woman who kept the lodging-house sent a little
+coloured boy up to ask if he wanted anything. A pitcher of water was
+all that Alec asked for. That being supplied, the boy shut the door
+and clattered down the hall, whistling. The night seemed endless.
+Hour after hour he started up shuddering, as the bell's loud clang
+awakened him, not knowing what it was that startled him. In his
+feverish hallucinations he thought he was continually breaking
+through the ice into a sea of burning water. He kept clutching at the
+pillows, thinking they were islands that he was for ever drifting
+past and could never reach.
+
+When morning came at last, and the doctor made his second visit, he
+found Alec delirious and the medicine still on the chair beside the
+bed. With one glance round the cheerless room, he shrugged his
+shoulders and went out for help.
+
+When Alec next noticed his surroundings with eyes that were once more
+clear and rational, he saw that the dingy little grate had been
+opened and a bright fire was burning in it. The clothing he had left
+on the floor in a heap had been put away. The window shade no longer
+hung askew. He looked round half-expecting to see his Aunt Eunice or
+Flip, and wondered if he had been so ill that some one had sent for
+them. Then his glance fell on a grizzled old man with a wooden leg,
+dozing in a rocking-chair by the fire.
+
+"Old Jimmy Scott!" Alec said to himself after a moment's puzzled
+scrutiny, in which he racked his brain to recall where he had seen
+the face before. Finally he remembered. One of the boys had pointed
+him out as an old soldier who had taken to nursing when he could no
+longer fight. He held no diploma from any training-school for nurses,
+he was uncouth and rough in many ways, but his varied experiences had
+made him a valuable assistant to the doctor, whom he called his
+general, and obeyed with military exactness.
+
+As Alec stirred on his pillow, the old soldier looked up, and then
+hobbled over to the bed as quietly as his wooden leg would allow. He
+bent over him, felt his pulse, and then said, cheerfully, "All right,
+buddy, guess it's time now for rations." Taking a covered cup from
+the hob on the grate, he deftly put a spoonful of hot beef tea to
+Alec's lips.
+
+"You had a pretty close call, young man," he said, in response to
+Alec's attempt to question him. "A leetle more and it would have been
+double pneumonia. But you're about out of the woods now. We'll soon
+have you on your feet." Giving his patient a few more spoonfuls, he
+drew the covers gently in place, saying, "Now don't you talk any
+more. Turn over and go to sleep."
+
+Weak, yet thrilled with a delightful sense of comfort and freedom
+from pain, Alec obeyed unquestioningly. True, a thought did trail
+teasingly across his mind for a moment, a dim wonder as to where the
+money was to come from to pay for the expensive luxuries of nurse and
+doctor and medicines and fire, but it faded presently, and instead
+his Aunt Eunice's old song took its place:
+
+                 "I know not where His islands lift
+                      Their fronded palms in air;
+                  I only know I cannot drift
+                      Beyond--beyond--beyond--"
+
+He groped languidly for the final words, but could not recall them.
+"Never mind," he thought, drowsily; "I've got as far as old Jimmy
+Scott, and that's a big enough island for this trip."
+
+A most comfortable stopping-place old Jimmy proved to be.
+
+Considerate as a woman of his patient's comfort, cheerful, tireless,
+and prompt as a minute-gun in carrying out the doctor's instructions,
+it was not long before he had Alec sitting up for a little while each
+day. With such an old philosopher to keep him company, and
+entertained by the old veteran's endless fund of anecdote, Alec
+enjoyed those few days of convalescence more than he could have
+believed possible.
+
+"It isn't such a bad sort of world, after all," he remarked one
+morning, the day after the minister had called. "It is strange what a
+difference knowing persons makes in the way you feel toward them. The
+minister was as cordial and friendly as Doctor Meldrum used to be in
+Ridgeville. Wonder how he found out about me? I didn't know he'd ever
+heard of me or noticed me in the congregation."
+
+Old Jimmy made no reply, although he longed to say: "He came because
+I sent for him, buddy, as people ought to do. They are quick enough
+to send for a doctor when their bodies are sick, but when they are
+out of sorts either physically or mentally they never think of
+letting their minister know. They hang back and feel hurt if he
+doesn't come, just as if he could tell by intuition or a sort of
+sixth sense that he's needed. How can a D. D. be expected to know
+when you want him, any more than an M. D.?"
+
+That afternoon as Alec sat propped up by the window for a little
+while, looking down on the snowy street, there was a knock at the
+door. Old Jimmy, answering it, came back with a florist's box
+addressed, "Mr. Alec Stoker, with best wishes and sympathy of the
+Grace Church Christian Endeavour Society." Inside was a fragrant
+bunch of hothouse roses.
+
+Alec held them up in amazement. "Why should they have sent them to
+me?" he cried. There was no Endeavour society in Ridgeville, and he
+did not understand its methods.
+
+"The flower committee sends 'em to all the sick people in the
+congregation," explained Jimmy. "Posies and piety always sorter go
+together, seems like. Pretty, ain't they? But they ain't half so
+pretty as the young ladies that brought 'em."
+
+"Young ladies!" gasped Alec, looking toward the door.
+
+"Yes, the flower committee itself, I suppose. I didn't know two of
+them. But one of them you ought to know, buddy, seeing as it's the
+daughter of your boss. Thomas Windom's daughter--Avery, I believe
+they call her."
+
+Alec's heart gave a thump. Avery Windom was the pretty girl he had
+written to Flip about; the one whom he had wanted of all others to
+know; and she had climbed to his door, had left the roses; it seemed
+too strange to be true.
+
+He leaned toward the window and looked down. Yes, there she went with
+her friends, fluttering along the snowy street. He could see the
+gleam of her soft, light hair under her velvet hat. Her cheeks were
+flushed with her walk in the cold. He leaned eagerly nearer the
+window as she fluttered along, farther and farther down the street,
+until she was lost in the crowd. Then he lay back in the chair with a
+sigh. It seemed so long since he had lived in a world where there
+were bright, friendly girls like Flip. The sight of these who had
+been so near made him homesick for the old friends of his school
+days, and he began to talk to old Jimmy about his sister and the good
+times they used to have together.
+
+"I wonder which one wrote this card," he thought, as he slipped it
+out of the box. "I am sure she did. The handwriting is so light and
+graceful, just like her. So her name is Avery. I might have known it
+would be different from other girls'. Avery! Avery!" he repeated
+softly, while old Jimmy stumped out into the hall for some water in
+which to put the roses. "It's a pretty name. I wonder if I'll ever
+know her well enough to call her that."
+
+"Time to get back into bed now," said old Jimmy, coming in with the
+pitcher. He placed the roses in it on a stand beside the bed.
+"Mustn't overdo matters."
+
+"No, indeed," said Alec, with a new note of determination in his
+voice which did not escape old Jimmy. "I've got to get well in a
+hurry now, and go back to work." Then he settled himself on his
+pillow, and lay smiling happily at the roses.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+If the calendar over Alec's mantel could have told the history of the
+next few weeks, it would have been the record of a hard struggle with
+homesickness and discouragement. There was a heavy black cross drawn
+through the date of his return to work. He had come in that night
+when it was over weighed down with the fact that his wages had been
+stopped in his absence, and that it would take a long time to pay the
+debts incurred during his illness.
+
+There was a zigzag line struck twice across the calendar below that
+date. "That much goes for the doctor!" he exclaimed, fiercely
+checking off the time with a stubby pencil. "And that much to old
+Jimmy, and that much for fire and extras. It'll take way into the new
+year to get straightened out. Luckily I am nearly through with my
+debt to Aunt Eunice."
+
+Later there was a tiny star drawn in the corner of one date. It
+marked the Sabbath evening he had gone to the Christian Endeavour
+praise service and heard Avery Windom sing. He had been introduced to
+half a dozen of the boys and girls, and been invited to come again,
+and had gone back to his calendar to count the nights until the next
+meeting. Ever since he had left home, he had longed with a longing
+that was like hunger for the companionship of young people such as he
+had known at home. There was a blur over one of the dates, the little
+square that marked the twenty-fifth of December. It was a red-letter
+day on the calendar, but in Alec's bare little room a holiday that
+dragged its dismal length out toward dark, like a dull ache.
+
+The box that had been sent him from home failed to reach him till the
+next day. Standing with his hands in his pockets, looking out over
+the snowy roofs of the city, he recalled all the merry Christmas days
+at home, since the first time he and Flip had hung up their stockings
+beside their grandfather's wide chimney-seat. This was the first time
+he had ever missed following the old custom. The city seemed
+overflowing with the joy and good-will of the Yuletide, yet none of
+it was for him. He had never felt so utterly left out and alone in
+all his life.
+
+Despite his seventeen years, there was an ache in his throat that he
+could not drive back, and when he laid down the calendar he had been
+mechanically examining, although he whistled bravely, there was a
+telltale blur on the page.
+
+But there came a day when he tore off the leaf that was crossed with
+the double black lines meaning debt and worry, and began a fresh
+sheet which seemed to promise better days. A change of work came the
+first of February, and a slight advance in wages. The manager, who
+had kept a keen eye on him, was beginning to think that at last he
+had found a boy who was worth training, and that if he proved as
+efficient in every stage of his apprenticeship as he had in the
+first, he would soon have the capable assistant that he had long been
+in search of.
+
+Alec's notification of his promotion was in the envelope which held
+his check for the last week in January. He did not see it until he
+stepped into the bank to have the check cashed, and in his delight
+and surprise he could scarcely refrain from turning a handspring.
+
+So many people were ahead of him that he had to stand several minutes
+awaiting his turn at the little barred window. In that time he made
+several rapid calculations on the back of the envelope.
+
+"Can you give me five dollars of that in gold?" he asked of the
+cashier when his turn finally came. With a nod of assent, the cashier
+counted out several small bills, and laid a shining five-dollar gold
+piece on top. Alec seized it eagerly and, thrusting the bills into
+his pocket, walked out with the coin in his hand.
+
+Long ago he had decided how to spend his first surplus five dollars
+if it came in time. It should go as a happy surprise to Flip on her
+sixteenth birthday. It had come in time. Her birthday was on the
+twenty-first of the month. At first he thought he could not wait
+three long weeks before sending it. He wanted her to have the
+pleasure and surprise of receiving it at once; and he wanted the
+thrill of feeling that he was man enough not only to be
+self-supporting, but to help care for his sister.
+
+[Illustration: "HE MADE SEVERAL RAPID CALCULATIONS ON THE BACK OF THE
+ENVELOPE."]
+
+He wrapped the coin in a bit of tissue-paper, torn from the
+shaving-case Flip had sent him in the delayed Christmas box. Then he
+carefully put it in the inner pocket of the old wallet he carried.
+But scarcely a night passed between that time and the twentieth that
+he did not take a peep at the coin, and then count the days on his
+calendar.
+
+Ever since the night of the praise service, when he first heard Avery
+Windom sing, he had been a regular attendant at the Christian
+Endeavour meetings. It was like a bit of home to sit there in the
+midst of the young people, singing the familiar old hymns, and he
+sang them so heartily and entered into the exercises of the meeting
+with such zest that he soon lost the feeling that he was only a
+stranger within the gates.
+
+There were some, it is true, who were only coolly polite to him,
+thinking of his position, an unknown boy working in the shoe factory
+as a common labourer. He felt the chill of their manner keenly, and
+he knew why he was so pointedly ignored. It was not a deeply
+spiritual society. Only a few of the members were really consecrated
+Christians. There were more socials and concerts and literary
+evenings than devotional meetings. Most of the members belonged to
+old, wealthy families, and had always been accustomed to leisure and
+pocket-money. Alec soon realized the bounds that were set to his
+social privileges. He might take a prominent part in the meetings,
+even be asked to lead on occasions, be put on committees, be assigned
+many tasks in connection with suppers and festivals, but outside of
+his church relationship he was never noticed. No hospitable home
+swung open its doors for him.
+
+Only one who has lived in a country place, which knows no class
+distinctions, where character is all that counts, and where the
+butcher and baker may be bidden any day, in simple village fashion,
+to banquet with the judge, only such an one can understand the
+feeling of a boy in Alec's position. He wondered sometimes, with a
+sudden sinking of the heart, what would be the result if they knew
+about his father.
+
+He never looked at Avery Windom without thinking of it. He used to
+watch her in church, sitting up between her aristocratic father and
+mother, sweet and refined, like a dainty white flower. He wondered if
+her slim-gloved hand would ever be held out to him again in greeting,
+as it had been on several occasions, if she knew that he was the son
+of a criminal.
+
+Then he wondered what she would think if she knew that the touch of
+that little hand in his had been like the saving touch of a guardian
+angel. Once, urged on by one of the factory boys, an almost
+overwhelming temptation had seized him, but the remembrance that if
+he yielded he would never again be fit to take her hand made him
+thrust his into his pockets and turn away toward home with a shrug of
+the shoulders.
+
+Avery, as ignorant of the influence she was exerting as a lily is of
+the fragrance it sheds, went serenely on in her gentle, high-bred
+way. Alec held no larger place in her thoughts than any other of the
+employees in her father's factory.
+
+"Flip would call her one of my islands," he said to himself one
+night, as he parted on the corner from a crowd of boys who were
+begging him to go with them for a little game of cards and a lark
+afterward. "No telling where I would have drifted if it hadn't been
+for her. It's no easy matter to keep straight when you're all alone
+in a city as big and tough as this."
+
+On his way home, he stopped at the library for a book he had heard
+her mention. He had overheard her quoting a line from Sir Galahad,
+and although he knew the story well of the maiden knight "whose
+strength was as the strength of ten because his heart was pure," it
+took on a new meaning because she had praised it. He learned the
+entire poem by heart, and the inspiration of the lines as he bent
+over his work in the factory gave him many an uplift that left him
+more nearly the man whom he imagined Avery's ideal to be.
+
+One other date was marked on the calendar with a star before Flip's
+birthday came round. It was the night of the literary contest at the
+high school, when Avery's essay took the prize. Alec had manoeuvred
+for a week to get a ticket, and finally procured one from the head
+bookkeeper at the factory, whose sister taught in the high school.
+
+[Illustration: "'IT'S THE FIRST MONEY I EVER EARNED IN MY LIFE,' SHE
+SAID, GLEEFULLY."]
+
+He lingered a little while after the contest in the outskirts of the
+crowd that flocked up to congratulate Avery. She came out to the
+carriage on her father's arm, with a fleecy evening cloak wrapped
+round her, and he saw the prize. She held it out a moment in her
+bare, white hand to some one who stood near Alec. It was a bright
+five-dollar gold piece.
+
+"It's the first money I ever earned in my life," she said, gleefully,
+including Alec in her smile, so that he felt that the remark was
+addressed to him. "It is so precious I shall have to put it under a
+glass case. Maybe I can never earn another one."
+
+In his room once more, Alec took out his little gold coin, and,
+looking at it, thought he could understand just how proud Avery must
+feel of hers.
+
+The next time he saw her it was at a Christian Endeavour meeting.
+Ralph Bently was with her, a gentlemanly, elegant boy in appearance,
+but Alec knew the reputation he had among the young fellows who knew
+him best, and it made him set his teeth together hard to see him with
+a girl as pure and refined as Avery.
+
+"He isn't fit," he thought. "He shouldn't speak to Flip if I could
+prevent it, and even if he is Avery's cousin and such a young boy,
+Mr. Windom oughtn't to let him into the house."
+
+For several weeks, at every meeting, the president had made an
+especial appeal for larger contributions. A large, expensive organ
+was being built for the church. The Christian Endeavour Society had
+pledged themselves to pay five hundred dollars of the amount due on
+it, but part of the sum was still lacking, even after all the socials
+and fairs that had been given to raise the amount. The president
+urged each member to add a little to his previous subscription, even
+at the cost of much self-denial.
+
+Alec had been asked to assume the duty of regularly passing one of
+the collection boxes at the Sunday night services. He had done this
+so often in the Sunday school at home that he felt no embarrassment
+in doing so now, except when he reached the row of chairs where Avery
+and her cousin sat. He sneezed just as he extended the long-handled
+collection box toward them, and flushed hotly for having called every
+one's attention to himself by the loud noise.
+
+The other collector, having finished first, placed his box on the
+secretary's little stand and went back to his seat. As Alec came
+forward, the president asked him in a low tone to count the money,
+and be ready to report the amount after the singing of the last hymn.
+
+Turning his back to the audience, Alec emptied both boxes into the
+seat of the big pulpit chair standing next to the president's. The
+two chairs were old Gothic ones, recently retired from the church
+pulpit to make room for new furniture. There were a number of pennies
+in the lot, and during the singing he counted them carefully several
+times, in order to be sure that he had made no mistake.
+
+The hymn was a short one. It came to an end as Alec laid several
+little piles of coin on the table at the secretary's elbow.
+
+"Four dollars and ninety-six cents, did you say?" repeated the
+president, leaning over to catch the report Alec gave in an
+undertone. "Four dollars and ninety-six cents," he announced aloud.
+"Really we must do better than that."
+
+Alec saw Avery and Ralph exchange surprised glances. The president
+went on repeating his former explanations of their financial
+difficulties. Alec, still watching, saw Ralph Bently make a move to
+rise, and Avery's hand was laid detainingly on his arm. She was
+whispering and shaking her head; but Ralph was not to be deterred by
+any remonstrance. He was on his feet, exclaiming:
+
+"Mr. President, pardon the interruption. There is some mistake in
+that report! The collection should amount to far more than four
+dollars and ninety-six cents. Miss Windom alone gave more than that.
+I saw her drop a five-dollar gold piece into the box."
+
+Avery blushed furiously at being called into public notice in such a
+manner by her impetuous young cousin. Every drop of blood seemed to
+leave Alec's face for an instant, and then rushed back until it
+burned a fiery crimson. He was indignant that Ralph Bently should have
+been so wanting in courtesy as to proclaim in public the amount of
+his cousin's donation, the cherished gold piece she had won at the
+prize contest. And he was deeply mortified to think that he could
+have made a mistake in counting it. He wondered if he could have been
+such a fool as to have mistaken the coin for a new penny. What would
+Avery think of him?
+
+He turned toward the table, evidently disturbed, and counted the
+money again. Then he shook his head.
+
+"You can see for yourself," he said; "four dollars and ninety-six
+cents!"
+
+The president picked up both boxes, and, turning them upside down
+over the table, shook them energetically. The secretary shoved back
+the chair in which the money had been counted, gave it a tip that
+would have dislodged any coin left on its smooth plush seat, and
+peered anxiously round on the floor.
+
+"Don't give it another thought, Mr. Stoker, please don't!" exclaimed
+Avery, going up to him when her attention was called to his worried
+expression. "I'm sure it has rolled off into some corner and the
+janitor will find it when he sweeps. I'll speak to him about it.
+Anyhow, it is too small a matter to make such a fuss over. I never
+should have told Ralph what it was if he hadn't teased me about what
+I had tied up in the corner of my handkerchief." Then she passed on
+with a smile.
+
+Alec lingered to help collect the hymn-books, and when he passed into
+the vestibule he heard voices on the outer steps. One of them sounded
+like Ralph Bently's.
+
+"Oh, maybe so!" it exclaimed, with a disagreeable little laugh; "but
+it's queer how money will stick to some people's fingers."
+
+Alec, who was in the act of opening the door to go from the
+prayer-meeting room into the auditorium of the church for the evening
+service, paused an instant. He was overwhelmed by the sudden
+conviction that he was the person meant.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+The next day at noon, after a hurried lunch at the restaurant, Alec
+stopped at the post-office on his way back to the factory. He wanted
+to add a few lines to the birthday letter which he had written
+Philippa the night before. He wrote them standing at the public desk;
+then, drawing the old wallet from his pocket, he took out the
+long-cherished gold coin from its wrapping of tissue-paper and
+dropped it into the envelope.
+
+"I'm afraid it isn't safe to send it that way," he said to himself,
+balancing the letter on two fingers. "It is so heavy that any one
+could guess what's in it, and it might wear through. I did want her
+to have it in gold, but I suppose it will be more sensible to send a
+postal order."
+
+After a moment's deliberation, he turned to the window beside the
+desk, and asked for a money-order blank. Some one came in while he
+was filling it out, but he was so absorbed in his occupation that he
+did not look up until he turned to push the slip and the money
+through the window bars toward the clerk. Then he saw that it was
+Ralph Bently who stood behind him, flipping a postal order in his
+fingers, impatient to have it cashed. They exchanged careless nods,
+and Alec, sealing his letter, dropped it into the box and hurried
+back to his work. As the outer door swung shut, Bently leaned his
+arms on the window ledge and spoke to the clerk, who was an intimate
+friend of his.
+
+"Say, Billy," he exclaimed, "let me see that coin that Stoker paid
+you just now, will you? Push it out here a minute."
+
+"What's up?" inquired the clerk, as he complied with the request.
+
+"Oh, nothing much. I just wanted to look at the date." As he examined
+it, he gave a long whistle. "Whe-ew! It's the same. Curious
+coincidence, I must say! This young brother takes up a collection
+Sunday night. Avery drops in her five-dollar gold piece that she got
+as a prize, you know. Collector turns his back on the meeting to
+count the money, hands in a report of only four dollars and
+ninety-six cents. Vows he never saw the gold in the box. A thorough
+search of the room fails to bring it to light. Nobody can imagine how
+it disappeared. The next morning he has a coin of the same date to
+dispose of."
+
+"Who is the fellow, anyway?" asked the clerk.
+
+"That's just it! Who is he? Nobody knows. He came here from some
+little place back in the country several months ago, and went to work
+in the Downs & Company shoe factory."
+
+"If that's the case, why don't you ask your uncle about him? He's
+both the company and the manager in the firm, isn't he? He'd know
+whether the fellow was to be trusted or not."
+
+"I intend to," was the answer; "and say, Billy, if you don't mind,
+I'll take that coin. Here's its equivalent."
+
+He pushed a rustling new bank-note toward his friend. "See me play
+Sherlock Holmes now. I always did think I'd make a good detective."
+
+"Look out," was the warning reply. "You have only a slim bit of
+circumstantial evidence, and it would be hard on the boy to start
+such a tale if there were no truth in it."
+
+With the coin in his pocket, Ralph sauntered down to his uncle's
+office. It was some time before the busy man could spare time to
+listen to him.
+
+"Well," he said at last, looking up, pen in hand, "what can I do for
+you this morning, Ralph?" He had always taken a special interest in
+his sister's only son, and now smiled kindly as he approached.
+
+"Oh, nothing, thank you, uncle. I just dropped in to ask you about
+one of the employees in the factory. Who is this Alec Stoker, and
+where did he come from?"
+
+The manager's brow contracted an instant in thought. The factory was
+a large one, and the roll of employees long.
+
+"Stoker! Stoker!" he repeated. Then his face cleared. "Ah! He is the
+nephew of the best salesman we have on the road. Came well
+recommended from a little town called Ridgeville, I believe. He seems
+to be a faithful, energetic boy, and has already pushed up to one
+promotion."
+
+"Did any one recommend him besides his uncle?" asked Ralph,
+meaningly.
+
+"No, that was sufficient. But you evidently have a reason for these
+inquiries. Do you know anything about him?"
+
+"No, only--" he shrugged his shoulders. "Something happened last
+night that put me on my guard. Didn't Avery tell you?"
+
+At the mention of his daughter's name in connection with Ralph's
+insinuations, Mr. Windom was instantly alert. He laid down his pen.
+"No, tell me!" he demanded.
+
+In as few words as possible, Ralph told of the disappearance of
+Avery's money from the collection box, and the discovery he had made
+at the post-office. When he had finished, Mr. Windom shook his head
+gravely.
+
+"You are making a very serious charge, Ralph," he said, "and on very
+slight provocation. At sixteen one is apt to jump at hasty
+conclusions. Take the advice of sober sixty, my boy. It is a
+remarkable coincidence, I admit, but even the common law regards a
+man as innocent until he is proved guilty, and surely a society that
+stands for all that the Christian Endeavour does would not fall below
+the common law in its sense of justice. I'm surprised that its
+members should be so quick to whisper suspicion and point the
+accusing finger."
+
+"Oh, I'm not a member!" Ralph exclaimed, hastily. "I am perfectly
+free to say what I think. Somehow I've never liked the fellow from
+the start. He takes so much on himself, and seems to want to push
+himself in where he doesn't belong."
+
+Mr. Windom, swinging round in his revolving chair toward his desk,
+picked up his pen again. "Stoker is all right so far as I know," he
+said. "It would be a very small thing to let a personal dislike
+influence you in this."
+
+He spoke sternly. Adjusting his eyeglasses, he pulled some papers
+toward him, and Ralph, feeling that he desired the conversation to
+close, backed out of the office with a hasty good day. His face
+flushed at his uncle's implied rebuke, and he resolved that if there
+was any possible way, he would prove that his suspicion was right. He
+stopped at the post-office on his way home, to speak to the clerk
+again.
+
+"Billy," he said, in a confidential tone, "do a favour for me. Just
+drop a line to the postmaster at that address, will you, and ask him
+to tell you what he knows about a former resident of that place--one
+Alec Stoker? I'm hot on his track now, and I'm going to trace this
+thing out if it takes all the year."
+
+"Found out anything?" asked the clerk.
+
+"Ask me later," Ralph answered, with a knowing look. "It's a
+detective's policy to keep mum."
+
+So the poison of suspicion began its work. In a few days, the answer
+came to the clerk's letter. Alec Stoker was O. K. so far as the
+postmaster of Ridgeville knew. His grandfather had been one of the
+most highly respected citizens of the place, but--then followed an
+account of Alec's father. This the self-appointed young detective
+seized eagerly.
+
+"Humph! Thought there was bad blood somewhere!" he exclaimed. He took
+the report to his uncle, who read it gravely, and dismissed him with
+a short lecture on the cruelty of repeating such stories to the
+intentional hurt of a fellow creature. Stung to anger by this
+additional reproof, Ralph was more determined than before to prove
+that his suspicions were correct. He carried the letter to the
+president of the society, urging investigation.
+
+"No!" was the determined answer; "better lose a thousand times that
+amount than accuse him falsely. Because his father was dishonest is
+no proof that he is a thief. Drop it, Bently. Don't put a
+stumbling-block in the poor fellow's way by spreading such
+insinuations as that. He seems one of the most earnest and sincere
+members we ever had in the society."
+
+With a muttered reply about wolves in sheep's clothing, Ralph took
+his letter to the treasurer and secretary. Meeting the same response
+from them, he talked the matter over with some of the members, who
+were more willing to listen than the others, and less conscientious
+about repeating their surmises. So the poison spread and the story
+grew. It came to Alec's ears at last. There is always some
+thoughtless talebearer ready to gather up the arrows of gossip and
+thrust them into the quivering heart of the victim.
+
+Then the matter dropped so far as the society was concerned. Alec
+simply stayed away. Some there were who never noticed his absence.
+Some were confirmed in their suspicions by it. Ralph Bently declared
+that it was proof enough for him that Stoker felt guilty. If nothing
+was the matter, why should he have dropped out so suddenly when he
+had pretended all along to be so interested in the services and had
+taken such an active part in them?
+
+The president, noting his absence, promised himself to look him up
+sometime, but such promises, never finding definite dates, are never
+fulfilled. The member of the visiting committee who had called on
+Alec during his illness, and was really interested in him, started to
+call again. Something interrupted him, however, and he eased his
+conscience, which kept whispering that it was his duty to go, by
+sending him one of the printed invitations they always sent to
+strangers, cordially urging a regular attendance at the meetings.
+
+Then the society went selfishly on in its old channels, unmindful of
+the young life set adrift again in a sea of doubt and discouragement,
+with no hand held out to draw it back from the peril of shipwreck.
+The despairing mood that had settled down on Alec during the summer
+seized him again. He would work doggedly on during the day, thinking
+of Flip and his Aunt Eunice, and feeling that for their sakes he must
+stick bravely at it. There was no other position open to him. But it
+was almost intolerable staying in a town where people not only knew
+of his father's disgrace, but pointed accusing fingers at him. His
+sensitiveness on the subject made him grow more and more morbid. He
+brooded over it until he imagined that every one who happened to
+glance steadily in his direction must be saying, inwardly, "Like
+father, like son."
+
+He knew that Ralph Bently had gone to Mr. Windom with his
+information. The talebearer had given him an exaggerated account of
+the interview. He felt that there was no longer any use for him to
+hope the manager would ever raise him to the position of his trusted
+assistant, no matter how thoroughly he might learn the details of the
+business. For that reason he studied the newspapers for the
+advertisements of help wanted. He intended to make a change at the
+first opportunity.
+
+Once, crossing a street, he met the Windom carriage coming toward
+him. Avery, fair and gracious beside her mother, was bowing to an
+acquaintance. He started forward eagerly. He had not seen her since
+the last night he attended church, but the picture of her pure, sweet
+face, upturned like a white flower as she listened to the service,
+had been with him ever since. It had come before him many an evening
+when, with head bowed on his hands, he had leaned over the little
+table in his room, gazing intently into vacancy; it had laid a
+detaining hand on him when he would have flung out of the house in
+his desperation, in search of some diversion to keep him from
+brooding over his fate.
+
+Now they were almost face to face. Forgetting everything but his
+pleasure in seeing her once more, and remembering her smiling
+greetings in the past, his hand went up involuntarily toward his hat;
+but he stopped half-way, for, turning toward her mother just then,
+she called her attention to something on the other side of the
+street.
+
+"Just what I might have expected!" muttered Alec, thinking she
+purposely avoided him. His teeth were set and his face white with
+mortification. But in his heart he had not expected it. He had taken
+a vague comfort in the thought that she would believe in his
+innocence, no matter who else doubted. She had insisted so kindly on
+his never giving the lost money another thought.
+
+[Illustration: "HIS HAND WENT UP INVOLUNTARILY TOWARD HIS HAT."]
+
+If there had been only one accusation to deny, he could have gone to
+her with that, he thought. He would have compelled her to believe his
+innocence by the very force of his earnestness. But the knowledge of
+the accusation against his father silenced him.
+
+"Hello! You nearly knocked me down, Stoker. Where are you going?" It
+was one of the factory boys who asked the question, and Alec,
+hurrying down the street with unseeing eyes, became suddenly aware
+that he had run against some one who had caught him by the arm, and
+was laughingly shaking him to make him answer. "Where are you going?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know, and I don't care," was the reckless answer.
+
+"All right, come along if you want good company," was the joking
+reply, and the other boy, slipping his arm in Alec's, turned his
+steps to a corner where a jolly crowd were waiting for him to join
+them.
+
+After that there were no more lonely evenings for Alec, when he sat
+with bowed head beside his table, staring into vacancy. He should
+have had another promotion in March. Alec felt that he was proficient
+enough to be advanced, and he told himself bitterly that the reason
+he was not was because the manager mistrusted him.
+
+It was true that the manager did distrust him. Not on account of the
+suspicions which Ralph Bently had sowed broadcast, but because, made
+doubly watchful by the hint, he discovered how Alec was spending his
+evenings. Although the work in the factory was done as well as ever,
+he knew that no one could keep the company and late hours that Alec
+did and not fall short of the high standard he had set for the one
+who was ultimately to become his assistant.
+
+The months slipped slowly by. Philippa wrote that the garden was gay
+with spring crocuses and snowdrops; then that Ridgeville had never
+been such a bower of roses as it was that June. But to Alec the
+months were marked only by his little winnings and little losings.
+
+There came a time in the early autumn when Alec crept up the creaking
+stairs to his room, haggard and pale in the gray light of the
+breaking dawn. He had been out all night and lost not only all the
+money he had put away in the bank, the savings of seven endless
+months, but he was in debt for a greater sum than all his next
+month's salary would amount to.
+
+Heavy-eyed and dizzy from the long hours spent in the close little
+gambling den, reeking with stifling tobacco smoke, Alec dragged
+himself to his room. After he had closed the door, he stood leaning
+with his back against it for a moment. He was facing two pictures
+that gazed at him from the mantel: One was the patient, wistful face
+of his Aunt Eunice; the other was Philippa's, looking straight out at
+him with such honest, sincere eyes, such eager questioning, that he
+could not meet their clear gaze. He strode across the room and turned
+both faces to the wall. Then, without undressing, he threw himself on
+the bed with a groan.
+
+He was late reaching the factory that morning, for he fell asleep at
+once into a sleep of exhaustion, so deep that the usual sounds did
+not arouse him. As it was his first offence, the foreman passed it by
+in silence; but, faint from lack of food (there had been no time for
+breakfast), worn by the excitement and high nervous tension of the
+night before, he was in no condition to do his work. He made one
+mistake after another, until, made more nervous by repeated accidents
+both to the material and machinery he was handling, he made a blunder
+too serious to pass without a report to the manager. It involved the
+loss of considerable money to the company.
+
+"You'll be lucky if that mistake doesn't give you your walking
+papers," said the foreman. "You'll hear from it at the end of the
+month."
+
+If there had been only himself to consider, Alec would have welcomed
+his dismissal, but there was Flip and his Aunt Eunice. How they
+believed in him! How proud they were of him! Not for worlds would he
+have them know how far he had fallen short of their ideal of him. So
+for their sakes he waited in feverish anxiety to know the result.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+It was a rainy Sunday afternoon. A few lumps of coal burned in the
+dingy grate in Alec's room. He had slept for several hours, had
+finished reading his last library book, and now, as he clasped his
+hands behind his head, yawning lazily, he remembered that he had not
+written home for two weeks. Letter-writing had become a dreaded task
+now. What was there to tell them of himself that he cared for them to
+know? Only that he worked from seven until six, ate, slept, and rose
+to work again with the dreary monotony of a machine.
+
+For seven months he had not been inside a church door. The only
+people he met now were the workmen at the factory and the boys with
+whom he spent his evenings. He could not mention them. Long ago he
+had exhausted his descriptions of the city. There was nothing for him
+to write but that he was well and busy, and to fill up the pages with
+questions about the people at home. It taxed his ingenuity sometimes
+to evade Flip's straightforward questions, and he often thought that
+his letters had an insincere ring.
+
+"I wonder what they are doing at home now!" he exclaimed, looking
+thoughtfully into the coals. "It's just a year ago to-day that I
+left. I can't imagine them living in the new house. It's always the
+old sitting-room I see when I think of them. Mack is probably down on
+the hearth-rug, popping corn or roasting apples, and Flip's curled up
+in the chimney-seat, telling him stories. And Aunt Eunice--I know
+what she's doing; what she always does Sunday evening just at this
+time, when the twilight begins to fall. She has gone into her room
+and shut the door and knelt down by the big red rocking-chair that we
+used to be rocked to sleep in. And she's praying for us this very
+minute, and doesn't know that the dust is half an inch thick on my
+Bible, and that a prayer hasn't passed my lips since last February.
+Dear old Aunt Eunice!"
+
+An ache clutched his throat as he thought of her, and a tender mood,
+such as he had not known for weeks, rushed warm across him. One after
+another the old scenes rose up before him, until an overwhelming
+longing to see the well-known faces made the homesick tears start to
+his eyes.
+
+The twilight shadows deepened in the room, but, lost in the rush of
+tender memories, he forgot everything save the pictures that seemed
+to rise before him out of the glowing embers in the grate. In the
+midst of his reverie, there was a noise on the stairs--a familiar
+noise, although he had not heard it for months, a tread and a double
+tap, as if a foot and two canes were coming up the steps.
+
+"Old Jimmy Scott!" thought Alec, looking round as if awakening from a
+dream and discovering that the room was nearly dark; he stirred the
+fire until it burst into cheerful flames.
+
+"Well!" he exclaimed, cordially, throwing open the door in answer to
+old Jimmy's knock, "of all people! Did you rain down? Here I sat in
+the dumps, feeling that I hadn't a friend in the town. Come in! Come
+in!"
+
+He pulled a chair hospitably toward the grate for his guest, and put
+another lump of coal on the fire.
+
+"Knew you'd be surprised to see me a day like this," said the old
+soldier, thrusting his foot toward the blaze; "but I've been
+intending to look you up for some time. Kind o' had a drawing in this
+direction. Thinks I, when I felt it, wonder if he's sick and needs
+me. When I have feelings like that, I usually pay attention to 'em."
+
+They talked of various things for the next quarter of an hour; of the
+weather, the new city hall, the approaching elections; but they were
+both ill at ease. It seemed to Alec that the old man's heart was not
+in the conversation; that he was only trying to pave the way to some
+other topic. Finally a pause fell between them. Alec rose to put
+another lump of coal on the fire, and old Jimmy, looking round the
+room, noticed the two photographs on the mantel with their faces
+turned to the wall. He knew well enough whose pictures they were.
+During Alec's convalescence he had studied them many a time while he
+listened to the homesick boy's enthusiastic description of his sister
+and the aunt who had been like a mother to him.
+
+As Alec took his chair again, he saw the old man's surprised glance
+at the pictures. Then their eyes met. Alec flushed guiltily.
+
+"Something's wrong, boy," said old Jimmy, tenderly. "I knew it.
+That's why I felt moved to come. Seemed as if the Lord put it in my
+heart that I must. There's special services going on at Grace Church
+this week. Something in the evangelist's sermon this morning made me
+feel that I'd got to speak to somebody before nightfall--stir up
+somebody to a better life--or I'd be held accountable. Then all of a
+sudden I began to think of you, so I came up to ask if you wouldn't
+go to hear him to-night. But I see now that it's more than an
+invitation to church you need. You're in trouble, or you never would
+have done that." He nodded toward the pictures. "What is it?"
+
+Alec hesitated a minute, and old Jimmy, reaching over, laid a
+sympathetic hand on his shoulder. Something in the friendly touch
+brought a swift rush of tears to Alec's eyes. He was so homesick and
+lonely, and it seemed so good to have some one to talk with who was
+really interested in him. Dropping his face in his hands and leaning
+forward with his elbows on his knees, he blurted out his trouble in
+broken sentences.
+
+[Illustration: "HE BLURTED OUT HIS TROUBLE IN BROKEN SENTENCES."]
+
+He told the whole story, beginning with the missing coin; Ralph
+Bently's insinuations and subsequent endeavour to fasten suspicion on
+him; the disclosure of his father's disgrace; the gossip that had
+caused him to drop out of the society and church, where he felt that
+he was no longer wanted. Finally the habits he had fallen into, and
+the money he had lost, and the foreman's prophecy of his discharge
+from the factory at the end of the month.
+
+"I tried to do right," he said in conclusion. "I had tried all my
+life. I joined the church when I was no older than Mack, and I lived
+just as straight as I knew how. But after that--when every one cut
+me--it didn't seem as if it was any use. I just lost faith in
+everything and gave up trying. I used to believe in Aunt Eunice's
+idea of the eternal goodness. It made me feel so safe, somehow, to
+think that, no matter what happened, we could never--
+
+                 "'Drift beyond His love and care.'"
+
+That He had set islands for us to come across at every turn. You
+know. You remember that little map I made when I was getting well.
+One of the islands was named for you, and one was the Isle of Roses,
+because those flowers the Christian Endeavour society sent seemed to
+put new courage into me, and led to the acquaintances and friendships
+that helped me so much while I had them.
+
+"But I've lost that feeling now. I'm cut loose from everything, and
+you don't know how terribly adrift I feel. I'm just whirled along
+from day to day, till I've almost come to the place it tells about in
+Job, where there's nothing left to do but 'curse God and die.'"
+
+As he paused, old Jimmy's voice broke in with hearty cheerfulness,
+"Why, bless you, my boy, you're all in a fog. And do you know the
+reason? You haven't the right Pilot aboard any more.
+
+"The 'islands' are all round you, just the same, put there on purpose
+for you, but you let the devil get his hand at the wheel, and he
+keeps you steered away from 'em. You say you stopped praying? That
+very moment he got aboard and took possession. You quit trusting the
+Lord the instant you got into deep water.
+
+"You made a mistake when you let anybody's gossip run you out of the
+church or the society. You ought to have stayed and lived it down!
+That's the only thing for you to do now; go back and begin again and
+make people believe in your innocence. It will be hard for you, and
+powerfully awkward, for you have more than your share of pride and
+sensitiveness, but it's the only manly thing to do."
+
+"Oh, I _couldn't_ go back!" groaned Alec. "I believe I'd rather die
+first. If it had only been what they said about me, I might have done
+it, but I couldn't face what they'd continually be thinking about my
+father. I could never live that down."
+
+"Yes, you can! If you'll only put yourself entirely in the Lord's
+hands, He'll furnish the strength for you to do whatever is right.
+You've come to a crisis, Alec Stoker. You've got to fight it out
+right now, which is to have control of the rest of your life, God or
+the devil."
+
+There was a long silence. Presently, in a voice choked with emotion,
+the old man said, "Kneel down, son; I want to pray with you."
+Together they knelt in the darkening room.
+
+For a long time after old Jimmy took his leave, Alec sat gazing into
+the flickering fire, as the room grew dimmer and dimmer. Then, urged
+on by some impulse almost beyond his control, he slipped on his
+overcoat and hurried out into the street. When he reached the
+vestibule at the side door of the church, he stood a moment with his
+hand on the latch. His courage had suddenly failed him. He would go
+back home and wait until another time, he told himself. The service
+must be nearly over.
+
+But just then some one struck a few soft chords on the piano, and a
+full, clear voice began to sing. It was Avery's voice, and she sang
+with all the pleading earnestness of a prayer:
+
+              "Jesus, Saviour, pilot me
+               Over life's tempestuous sea!
+               Unknown waves before me roll,
+               Hiding rock and treacherous shoal;
+               Chart and compass come from thee:
+               Jesus, Saviour, pilot me."
+
+Out in the darkness, the storm-tossed, homesick boy stood listening,
+till his whole soul seemed to go out in that one cry, "Jesus,
+Saviour, pilot me!" It was a complete surrender of self, and as he
+whispered the words a peace that he had never known before, a great
+peace he could not understand, seemed to fold him safe in its
+keeping.
+
+As the last words of the song died away, he opened the door and
+walked in. If there was surprise on the faces of many, he did not see
+it. If it was a departure from the usual custom, he never stopped to
+consider it. The evangelist who had charge of the service stood for a
+final word of exhortation, asking if there were not many who could
+make that song their own, and offer it as a prayer of consecration.
+
+It was never quite clear to Alec afterward just what he said then.
+But as he told of the struggle he had just been through, and in
+broken sentences made a public confession of his faith, eyes grew
+dim, and hearts already touched by the song were strangely thrilled
+and stirred. Afterward the members came crowding round him with a
+warm welcome, and he carried away with him the remembrance of many a
+hearty hand-clasp. One of them was Mr. Windom's. He rarely attended
+the young people's meetings, and to-night had come only to hear his
+daughter sing. If he had had any misgivings as to the boy's sincerity
+of purpose before, every doubt was cleared away as he listened to his
+manly confession of faith, and looked into his happy face, almost
+transformed with the hope that illuminated it.
+
+It was Thanksgiving Day. Alec, home on his first vacation, stood in
+front of the open fire, watching Philippa set the table for their
+little feast. He had talked late the night before, and told of the
+many changes that had taken place during the last two months. He was
+in the office now, and his salary had been raised sufficiently to
+enable him to take a room in a comfortable boarding-house. Since his
+conversion, Mr. Windom had taken several occasions to show Alec that
+he trusted him implicitly.
+
+Radiant in her joy at having her brother home again, Philippa kept
+breaking into little snatches of song whenever there was a pause in
+the conversation. She thought she had never known such a happy
+Thanksgiving.
+
+"How nice and homelike it all is!" Alec exclaimed, sniffing the
+savoury odours that rushed in from the kitchen, of turkey and mince
+turnovers, whenever Aunt Eunice opened the oven door. "And how good
+it seems to hear you singing like that, Flip!"
+
+"Do you remember the day you told me that it set your teeth on edge
+to hear me singing that hymn?" asked Philippa, laughingly.
+
+"Yes, but that was because I was all out of tune myself. Everything
+is different now. Since I've given up trying to do my own piloting,
+it seems to me that I come across one of His 'islands' nearly every
+day." As he spoke, Macklin came running up on the porch, stamping the
+snow from his feet, and burst into the house, his cheeks as red as
+winter apples.
+
+"Here's a letter for you, Alec!" he cried. "Where's my hammer, Flip?
+I want to crack some of those nuts we gathered on purpose for
+to-day."
+
+She brought him the hammer, and he hurried away. Alec was turning the
+dainty blue envelope over in his hands.
+
+The address was written in the same hand as the card which had come
+nearly a year ago with the Christian Endeavour roses. He tore open
+the envelope, glanced at the monogram, then down the page, and turned
+to Philippa with a long-drawn whistle. "I wish you'd listen to this!"
+he exclaimed.
+
+    "DEAR MR. STOKER:--I am writing this in the hope that it
+    will reach you on Thanksgiving Day. You have suffered so
+    much on account of that miserable gold piece of mine, it
+    is only fair that you should have this explanation at once.
+
+    "This afternoon Miss Cornish and I went to the church to
+    practise a new song that I am to sing at the Thanksgiving
+    service. She was to play my accompaniments. The side door
+    of the church was open, for the florist was decorating the
+    altar, so we did not need to use the minister's latch-key,
+    which we had borrowed for the occasion. We practised for
+    some time, and then sat and talked until it was almost dark.
+    When we started home, we found to our dismay that the
+    janitor, thinking we had gone, had double-locked the door
+    for the night with his big key. Our little latch-key was then
+    of no use.
+
+    "We called and pounded until we were desperate. I had an
+    engagement for dinner, and could not afford to lose any time.
+    Finally we went into the prayer-meeting room, and found that
+    we could open one of the panes in the great stained-glass
+    window at the side. Miss Cornish climbed up on one of those
+    old pulpit chairs that the officers use, and said that if she
+    could lean out through the pane, she would call to the first
+    one who passed, and ask him to bring the janitor to our
+    release.
+
+    "But some way, in climbing, Miss Cornish caught her high heel
+    in the plush with which the seat is upholstered. The goods is
+    frayed and old. The chair tipped, and they both came to the
+    floor with a bang. Just as I sprang to catch her, something
+    bright and round rolled out of the chair toward me and dropped
+    right at my feet.
+
+    "It was that unlucky gold coin, which must have slipped under
+    the plush in some way when you counted the money on it that
+    night.
+
+    "It was so late when we were finally rescued that I could not
+    keep my dinner engagement. I am glad for one reason; it gives
+    me time to write this now. I know that it will make your
+    Thanksgiving brighter to know this, and I am sure that it is
+    needless for me to say that I never for an instant connected
+    the disappearance of the coin with you in any way. I regret
+    extremely the silly gossip that wounded you so sorely, and
+    want to tell you how much I respect the manly way in which
+    you have since met and answered it.
+
+    "Wishing you a happy Thanksgiving with your family, I am
+
+                                "Sincerely your friend,
+
+                                          "AVERY WINDOM."
+
+[Illustration: "'IT WAS THAT UNLUCKY GOLD COIN.'"]
+
+Philippa, watching his face as he read, came up to him when he had
+finished, and put a hand on each shoulder.
+
+"Alec," she said, with the straightforwardness of sixteen, "that
+means a lot to you, doesn't it, that she should write that she is
+'sincerely your friend'?"
+
+"Yes," he answered, honestly; "a very great deal."
+
+"Do you suppose it would stand in the way, sometime, when you are
+older, you know, and have made a place for yourself in the world, her
+knowing about--about father?"
+
+"I don't know, Flip," he answered, slowly; "I've often wondered about
+that."
+
+Through the open door came Aunt Eunice's voice, singing jubilantly:
+
+                  "I know not what the future hath
+                       Of marvel or surprise,
+                   Assured alone that life and death
+                       His mercy underlies."
+
+"How that old hymn answers everything!" Alec said, softly. "No matter
+what lies ahead, it's all right now. God's at the helm, little
+sister! I shall find all the 'islands' he has set for me."
+
+                              THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Flip's "Islands of Providence", by 
+Annie Fellows Johnston
+
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+Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
+<html lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
+    content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
+    <meta content="pg2html (binary v0.18)" name="generator">
+    <title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of
+    Flip's &ldquo;Islands of Providence&rdquo;, by Annie Fellows Johnston
+    </title>
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+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's Flip's "Islands of Providence", by Annie Fellows Johnston
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Flip's "Islands of Providence"
+
+Author: Annie Fellows Johnston
+
+Illustrator: E. F. Bonsall
+
+Release Date: July 6, 2008 [EBook #25978]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FLIP'S "ISLANDS OF PROVIDENCE" ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Garcia, Dr. Graeme M. Handisides and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+(This file was produced from images generously made
+available by The Kentuckiana Digital Library)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div style="height: 6em;"><br><br><br><br><br><br></div>
+<h1>
+FLIP'S "ISLANDS OF<br>
+PROVIDENCE"
+</h1>
+<a name="Title-Page"><!--IMG--></a>
+<div class="figure">
+<img src="images/title-page.png" width="401" height="561"
+alt="Flip's &ldquo;Islands of Providence&rdquo;" title="">
+<br>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+<div class='bbox'>
+<h3>
+Works of
+</h3>
+<h2>Annie Fellows Johnston
+</h2>
+<center>&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</center>
+
+<h3>
+The Little Colonel Series
+</h3>
+<center>
+<small>(<i>Trade Mark, Reg. U. S. Pat. Of.</i>)</small><br>
+Each one vol., large 12mo, cloth, illustrated
+</center>
+<center>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="The Little Colonel Series">
+<tr><td class ="tdlp" width="80%">The Little Colonel Stories</td><td class="tdrp" width="20%">$1.50</td></tr>
+<tr><td class ="tdlp" ><span style="margin-left: 1em;">(Containing in one volume the three stories, "The</span><br>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Little Colonel," "The Giant Scissors," and</span><br>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Two Little Knights of Kentucky.")</span><br></td></tr>
+<tr><td class ="tdlp">The Little Colonel's House Party </td><td class="tdrp">1.50</td></tr>
+<tr><td class ="tdlp">The Little Colonel's Holidays</td><td class="tdrp">1.50</td></tr>
+<tr><td class ="tdlp">The Little Colonel's Hero</td><td class="tdrp">1.50</td></tr>
+<tr><td class ="tdlp">The Little Colonel at Boarding-School </td><td class="tdrp">1.50</td></tr>
+<tr><td class ="tdlp">The Little Colonel in Arizona </td><td class="tdrp">1.50</td></tr>
+<tr><td class ="tdlp">The Little Colonel's Christmas Vacation</td><td class="tdrp">1.50</td></tr>
+<tr><td class ="tdlp">The Little Colonel: Maid of Honor</td><td class="tdrp">1.50</td></tr>
+<tr><td class ="tdlp"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">The above 8 vols., <i>boxed</i></span></td><td class="tdrp">12.00</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+<h3>
+Illustrated Holiday Editions
+</h3>
+<center>
+Each one vol., small quarto, cloth, illustrated, and printed
+in color
+</center>
+<center>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="Illustrated Holiday Editions">
+<tr><td class ="tdlp" width="80%">The Little Colonel </td><td class="tdrp" width="20%">$1.25</td></tr>
+<tr><td class ="tdlp">The Giant Scissors </td><td class="tdrp">1.25</td></tr>
+<tr><td class ="tdlp">Two Little Knights of Kentucky </td><td class="tdrp">1.25</td></tr>
+<tr><td class ="tdlp">&nbsp;&nbsp;The above 3 vols., <i>boxed</i> </td><td class="tdrp">3.75</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+<h3>
+Cosy Corner Series
+</h3>
+<center>
+Each one vol., thin 12mo. cloth, illustrated
+</center>
+<center>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="Cosy Corner Series">
+<tr><td class ="tdlp" width="80%">The Little Colonel</td><td class="tdrp" width="20%">$.50</td></tr>
+<tr><td class ="tdlp">The Giant Scissors </td><td class="tdrp">.50</td></tr>
+<tr><td class ="tdlp">Two Little Knights of Kentucky </td><td class="tdrp">.50</td></tr>
+<tr><td class ="tdlp">Big Brother </td><td class="tdrp"> .50</td></tr>
+<tr><td class ="tdlp">Ole Mammy's Torment</td><td class="tdrp">.50</td></tr>
+<tr><td class ="tdlp">The Story of Dago </td><td class="tdrp">.50</td></tr>
+<tr><td class ="tdlp">Cicely </td><td class="tdrp">.50</td></tr>
+<tr><td class ="tdlp">Aunt 'Liza's Hero</td><td class="tdrp"> .50</td></tr>
+<tr><td class ="tdlp">The Quilt that Jack Built </td><td class="tdrp">.50</td></tr>
+<tr><td class ="tdlp">Flip's "Islands of Providence" </td><td class="tdrp">.50</td></tr>
+<tr><td class ="tdlp">Mildred's Inheritance</td><td class="tdrp">.50</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+<h3>
+Other Books
+</h3>
+<center>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="Other Books">
+<tr><td class ="tdlp" width="80%">Joel: A Boy of Galilee </td><td class="tdrp" width="20%">$1.50</td></tr>
+<tr><td class ="tdlp">In the Desert of Waiting </td><td class="tdrp">.50</td></tr>
+<tr><td class ="tdlp">The Three Weavers </td><td class="tdrp">.50</td></tr>
+<tr><td class ="tdlp">Keeping Tryst</td><td class="tdrp">.50</td></tr>
+<tr><td class ="tdlp">Asa Holmes </td><td class="tdrp">1.00</td></tr>
+<tr><td class ="tdlp">Songs Ysame (Poems, with Allison Fellows Bacon)</td><td class="tdrp">1.00</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+<center>&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</center>
+<center><b>
+L. C. PAGE &amp; COMPANY<br>
+200 Summer Street &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Boston, Mass.
+</b></center>
+</div>
+
+
+<a name="image-0001"><!--IMG--></a>
+
+<div class="figure">
+<img src="images/illust-006.jpg" width="401" height="571"
+alt="" title="">
+<br>
+<span class="caption">"'ALEC,' HE SAID, PAUSING IN THE DOORWAY, 'WHAT'S A
+GREEN GOODS MAN?'"<br>
+(<i>See page <a href="#Page_75">75</a></i>)</span>
+</div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+
+<a name="h2H_4_0001" id="h2H_4_0001"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;">&nbsp;</div>
+
+<h2>
+    Cosy Corner Series
+</h2>
+<a name="h2H_4_0002" id="h2H_4_0002"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;">&nbsp;</div>
+
+<h1>
+FLIP'S "ISLANDS
+<br>
+OF PROVIDENCE"
+</h1>
+<center>
+By
+</center>
+
+<h2>
+Annie Fellows Johnston
+</h2>
+
+<center>
+Author of "Asa Holmes," "The Little Colonel Stories,"<br>
+"Big Brother," etc.
+</center>
+<center>
+<i>Illustrated by</i><br>
+E. F. Bonsall
+</center>
+
+<center>
+"<i>I know not where His islands lift</i><br>
+<span style="margin-left: 0em;"><i>Their fronded palms in air;</i>"</span><br>
+<span style="margin-left: 12em;">&mdash;<i>Whittier</i></span>
+</center>
+<center>
+<i>Boston<br>
+L.C. Page &amp; Company<br>
+Publishers</i>
+</center>
+<div style="height: 4em;">&nbsp;</div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+
+<center><i>Copyright, 1902</i><br>
+<span class="smcap">By The Trustees of the Presbyterian Board<br>
+of Publication and Sabbath-school Work</span><br>
+<br>
+<i>Copyright, 1903</i><br>
+By <span class="smcap">L. C. Page &amp; Company</span><br>
+<small>(INCORPORATED)</small><br>
+<i>All rights reserved</i><br>
+</center>
+
+
+<center>
+Published August, 1903
+</center>
+<center>
+<i>Fourth Impression, February, 1907</i>
+</center>
+<center>
+<font face="garamond, serif">Colonial Press</font><br>
+<small>Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds &amp; Co.<br>
+Boston, Mass., U. S. A.</small>
+</center>
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<a name="h2H_LIST" id="h2H_LIST"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+</h2>
+
+<center>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="List of Illustrations">
+<tr><td align='left'>&nbsp;</td><td align='center'><small>PAGE</small></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"<span class="smcap">'Alec,' he said, pausing in the doorway,
+'what's a green goods man?'</span>" (<i>see page <a href="#Page_75">75</a></i>)</td><td align='right'><a href="#image-0001"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"<span class="smcap">'You're bound to hear it sometime'</span>"</td><td align='right'><a href="#image-0002">19</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"'<span class="smcap">The lord has certainly sent you,
+Dick</span>'"</td><td align='right'><a href="#image-0003">57</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"<span class="smcap">He made several rapid calculations on
+the back of the envelope</span>"</td><td align='right'><a href="#image-0004">109</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"<span class="smcap">'It's the first money I ever earned in
+my life,' she said, gleefully</span>"</td><td align='right'><a href="#image-0005">117</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"<span class="smcap">His hand went up involuntarily toward
+his hat</span>"</td><td align='right'><a href="#image-0006">145</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"<span class="smcap">He blurted out his trouble in broken
+sentences</span>"</td><td align='right'><a href="#image-0007">161</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"<span class="smcap">'It was that unlucky gold coin'</span>"</td><td align='right'><a href="#image-0008">177</a></td></tr>
+</table></center>
+
+
+<a name="h2H_4_0004" id="h2H_4_0004"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;"><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>
+FLIP'S "ISLANDS OF<br>
+PROVIDENCE"
+</h2>
+
+<a name="h2HCH0001" id="h2HCH0001"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 1em;">&nbsp;</div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER I.
+</h2>
+<p>
+Carefully locking the door of his
+little gable bedroom, Alec Stoker put
+down the cup of hot water he carried,
+and peered into the mirror above his
+wash-stand. Then, although he had come
+up-stairs fully determined to attempt his
+first shave, he stood irresolute, stroking
+the almost imperceptible down on his
+boyish lip and chin.
+</p>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>
+"It does make me look older, that's a
+fact," he muttered to his reflection in the
+glass. "Maybe I'd better not cut it off
+until I've had my interview with the
+agent. The older I look, the more likely
+he'll be to trust me with a responsible
+position. Still," he continued, surveying
+himself critically, "I might make a more
+favourable impression if I had that
+'well-groomed' look the papers lay so
+much stress on nowadays, and I could
+mention in a careless, offhand way something
+about having just shaved."
+</p>
+<p>
+It was not yet dark out-of-doors, but
+after a few minutes of further deliberation,
+Alec pulled down the blind over his
+window and lighted the lamp. Then,
+opening a box that he took from his
+bureau, he drew out his Grandfather
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>
+Macklin's razor and ivory-handled shaving-brush.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm sure the old gentleman never
+dreamed, when they made me his namesake,
+that this was all of his property I
+would fall heir to," he thought, bitterly.
+</p>
+<p>
+The moody expression that settled on
+his face at the thought had become almost
+habitual in the last four weeks.
+The happy-go-lucky boy of seventeen
+seemed to have changed in that time to
+a morose man. June had left him the
+jolliest boy in the high school graduating
+class. September found him a morbid
+cynic.
+</p>
+<p>
+It had been nine years since his mother,
+just before her death, had brought him
+back to the old home for her sister Eunice
+to take care of&mdash;Alec and the little five-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>year-old Philippa and the baby Macklin.
+Their Aunt Eunice had made a happy
+home for them, and although she rarely
+laughed herself, and her hair had whitened
+long before its time, she had allowed
+no part of her burdens to touch
+their thoughtless young lives. It was
+only lately that Alec had been aroused
+to the fact that she had any burdens.
+He was rehearsing them all now, as he
+rubbed the lather over his chin, so busily
+that he did not hear Philippa's light step
+on the back stairs. Philippa could step
+very lightly when she chose, despite the
+fact that she was long and awkward, with
+that temporary awkwardness of a growing
+girl who finds it hard to adjust herself
+and her skirts to her constantly increasing
+height.
+</p>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>Alec almost dropped his brush as she
+suddenly banged on his door. "Is that
+you, Flip?" he called, although he knew
+no one but Philippa ever beat such thundering
+tattoos on his door.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes! Let me in! I want to ask you
+something."
+</p>
+<p>
+He knew just how her sharp gray eyes
+would scan him, and he hesitated an instant,
+divided between a desire to let her
+see him in the manly act of shaving himself
+and the certain knowledge that she
+would tease him if he did.
+</p>
+<p>
+Finally he threw open the door and
+turned to the glass in his most indifferent
+manner, as if it were an every-day occurrence
+with him. "Come in," he said;
+"I'm only shaving. I'm going out this
+evening."
+</p>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>If he had thought she would be impressed
+by his lordly air, he was mistaken,
+for, after one prolonged stare, she
+threw herself on the bed, shrieking with
+laughter. Long practice in bandying
+words with her brother had made her
+an expert tease. Usually they both enjoyed
+such combats, but now, to her surprise,
+he seemed indifferent to her most
+provoking comments, and scraped away
+at his chin in dignified silence.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I believe you said you had something
+to say to me, Philippa," he said presently,
+in a stern tone that made her stare.
+Never, except when he was very angry,
+did he call her anything but Flip.
+</p>
+<p>
+Suddenly sobered, she took her face
+out of the pillows and peered at him
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>curiously, twisting one of the long plaits
+of hair that hung over her shoulder.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have," she said. "I want to know
+what's the matter with you. What has
+come over you lately? You've been as
+sullen as a brown bear for days and days.
+I asked Aunt Eunice just now, while we
+were washing the supper dishes, what
+had changed you so. You used to be
+whistling and joking whenever you came
+near the house. Now you never open
+your lips except to make some sarcastic
+speech.
+</p>
+<p>
+"She said that it was probably because
+you were so disappointed about not getting
+that position in the bank that you had
+set your heart on, and she was afraid that
+you were growing discouraged about
+ever finding any position worth while
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>in this sleepy little village. She didn't
+know that I saw it, but while she was
+talking a tear splashed right down in the
+dish-water, and I made up my mind that
+it must be something lots worse than just
+plain disappointment or discouragement,
+and that I was going to ask you. Now,
+you needn't snap your mouth shut that
+way, like a clam. You've got to tell
+me!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Aunt Eunice doesn't want you to
+know," he said, turning away from the
+glass, razor in hand, to look at her intently.
+"But you're a big girl, Flip&mdash;nearly
+as tall as she is, if you are only
+fifteen. You're bound to hear it sometime,
+and in my opinion it would be
+better for you to hear it from me than
+to have it knock you flat coming unexpectedly
+from a stranger, as I heard it.'</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<a name="image-0002"><!--IMG--></a>
+<div class="fig">
+<img src="images/illust-019.jpg" width="450" height="553"
+alt="" title="">
+<br>
+<span class="caption">"'YOU'RE BOUND TO HEAR IT SOMETIME.'"</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span><br>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>"Tell me," she urged, her curiosity
+aroused.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Can you stand a pretty tough
+knock?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"As well as you," she answered, meeting
+his gaze steadily, yet with a queer
+kind of chill creeping over her at his
+mysterious manner.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, what do you suppose you and
+Mack and I have been living on all these
+years that we have been living with Aunt
+Eunice?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why&mdash;I&mdash;I don't know! Mother's
+share of Grandfather Macklin's property,
+I suppose. He divided it equally
+between her and Aunt Eunice."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, we just haven't!" Alec exclaimed. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>
+"That was spent before we
+came here, and nearly all of Aunt Eunice's
+share, too. She's been drawing
+right out of the principal the last two
+years so that she could keep us in school,
+and there's hardly anything left but this
+old house and the ground it stands on.
+She never told me until this summer.
+That's why I took the first job that
+offered, and drove Murray's delivery
+wagon till the regular driver was well.
+It wasn't particularly good pay, but it
+paid for my board and kept me from
+feeling that I was a burden on Aunt Eunice.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I was sure of getting that position in
+the bank. One of the directors had as
+good as promised it to me. While it
+wouldn't have paid much at first, it
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>would have been an entering wedge, and
+have put me in the direct line of promotion.
+And you know that from the time
+I was Macklin's age it has been my ambition
+to be a banker like grandfather.
+Since I failed to get that, nobody, not
+even Aunt Eunice, knows how hard I've
+tried to get into some steady, good-paying
+job. I've been to every business man
+in the village, and done everything a fellow
+could do, seems to me, but in a little
+place like this there's absolutely no opening
+unless somebody dies. The good
+places are already filled by reliable, middle-aged
+men who have grown up in
+them. There's no use trying any longer.
+Every time I get my hopes up it's only
+to have them dashed to pieces&mdash;shipwrecked,
+you might say."
+</p>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>He paused a minute, ostensibly to give
+his chin a fresh coating of lather, but in
+reality to gather courage for the words he
+found so difficult to say. In the silence,
+Macklin's voice came floating up to them
+from the porch below. Sitting on the
+steps in the twilight, with his bare feet
+doubled under him, he was reciting something
+to his Aunt Eunice in a high, sturdy
+voice. It came in shrilly through the
+open window of Alec's room, where the
+brown shade and overhanging muslin
+curtains flapped back and forth in the
+evening breeze.
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa smiled as she listened. He
+was reciting a poem that Aunt Eunice
+had taught each of them in turn, after
+the Creed and the Commandments and
+the Catechism. It was Whittier's hymn<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>&mdash;"The Eternal Goodness." She had
+paid them a penny a stanza for learning
+it, and as there are twenty-two stanzas
+in all, Philippa remembered how rich
+she felt the day she dropped the last copper
+down the chimney of her little red
+savings-bank.
+</p>
+<p>
+It had been seven years since Alec
+learned it, but the words were as familiar
+still as the letters of the alphabet. As
+Macklin's high-pitched voice reached
+them, Philippa joined in in a singsong
+undertone, and even Alec found himself
+unconsciously following the well-remembered
+lines in his thought:
+</p>
+<div class='poem'>
+"I know not where His islands lift<br>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Their fronded palms in air;</span><br>
+<span style="margin-left: 0.4em;">I only know I cannot drift</span><br>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beyond His love and care."</span><br>
+</div>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>"There!" said Philippa, stopping
+abruptly, "you were talking about shipwrecks.
+According to that hymn, there's
+always some island ready for you to be
+washed up on. How do you know but
+that you're going to land some place
+where you'll be lots better off than if
+you'd stayed here in Ridgeville?"
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a contemptuous sneer on
+Alec's face, not pleasant to see, as he
+answered, roughly: "Bosh! That's all
+right for people who can believe in such
+things, but I'm past such Robinson Crusoe
+fables."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why, Alec Stoker!" she cried, in
+amazement, "do you mean to say that
+you don't believe in Providence any
+more?" There was a look of horror on
+her face.
+</p>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>He shrugged his shoulders. "I've
+come to think it's a case of every fellow
+for himself; sink or swim&mdash;and if
+you're not strong enough to push to shore,
+it's drown and leave more room for the
+rest."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Alec Mack&mdash;lin Sto&mdash;ker!" was
+all that Philippa could find breath to
+say at first. Presently she exclaimed, "I
+should think you'd be ashamed to talk so!
+Any boy that had such a grand old grandfather
+as you! He didn't have any better
+chance than you in the beginning, and
+had to struggle along for years. Look
+what a place he made for himself in the
+world!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's all you know about it!" cried
+Alec, his hand trembling with an emotion
+he was trying hard to control. In that
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>instant the razor slipped, slightly cutting
+his chin.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now!" he muttered, hastily tearing
+a bit of paper from the margin of a newspaper
+to stop the blood, and then rummaging
+in the wash-stand drawer for a
+piece of court-plaster. He was a long
+time adjusting it to his satisfaction, for the
+words he wanted to say would not take
+shape. He knew what he had to tell her
+would wound deeply, and he hesitated to
+begin. When he faced her again, his
+voice trembled with suppressed excitement.
+He spoke rapidly:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I may as well out with it. You want
+to know why I didn't get that position in
+the bank? It is because my father, J.
+Stillwell Stoker, died behind the bars of
+a penitentiary! I'm the son of a jailbird<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>&mdash;a
+defaulter and a forger! That's why
+the bank didn't want me. They'd had
+their fingers burned with him, and didn't
+want to risk another of that name.
+Thought there might be something in
+the blood, I suppose. That's where all
+grandfather's property went, to pay it
+back; all but this house and the little
+Aunt Eunice kept for our support. And
+that's why mother came back here with us
+and died of a broken heart! Now do you
+wonder that I can't believe in the eternal
+goodness when it starts me out in life
+handicapped like that? Do you blame
+me when I say I am going to get out
+of this town and go away to some place
+where I'll not have my father's disgrace
+thrown in my teeth every time I try to
+do anything worth while? No wonder
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>I'm moody! No wonder I'm a pessimist
+when I think of the legacy he's saddled
+us with! Aunt Eunice thought she could
+always shield us from the knowledge of
+it, but she could no more do it than she
+could hide fire!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa sat on the bed as if stunned
+by the words flowing in such a vehement
+rush from her brother's lips. She was
+white and trembled. "O Alec," she
+gasped, with a shudder, "it can't be
+true!" Then, after a distressing silence,
+she sobbed, "Does everybody know it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Everybody in the village now, but
+little Mack, and he'll have to be knocked
+flat with the fact some day, I suppose,
+just as we have been."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa shivered and drew herself up
+into a disconsolate bunch against the foot-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>board. "To think of the way I've prided
+myself on our family!" she said, in a
+husky voice. "I've actually bragged of
+the Macklins and paraded the virtues of
+my ancestors."
+</p>
+<p>
+Alec made no answer. Down-stairs
+the big kitchen clock slowly struck seven.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll have to hurry," he remarked.
+Catching up his blacking-brush, he began
+polishing his shoes in nervous haste.
+"It's later than I thought. I'm due at
+the hotel in thirty minutes."
+</p>
+<p>
+"At the hotel!" repeated Philippa,
+wondering dully how he could take any
+interest in anything more in life, knowing
+all that had blighted their young lives.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; but don't you tell Aunt Eunice
+until it's all settled. I promised to meet
+a man there, who's been talking to me
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>about a position a thousand miles from
+here. He's interested in a manufacturing
+business. His firm has a scheme for
+making money hand over fist. He didn't
+tell me what it is, but he wants some
+young fellow about my age to go into it.
+'Somebody who can keep his mouth
+shut,' he said, 'write a good letter, and
+make a favourable impression on strangers
+in introducing the goods.' Stumpy
+Fisher introduced me to him last night,
+and he gave me a hint of what he might
+do if I suited. Seemed to think I was
+just the man for the place. There's another
+fellow after it, but he thought I'd
+make a better impression on strangers,
+and that is a great consideration in their
+business. We're to settle it this evening,
+as he has to leave on the nine o'clock
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>train. If we come to terms, he'll want
+me to follow next week."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Stumpy Fisher introduced you?" repeated
+Philippa; "why, he&mdash;he's the
+man that runs the Golconda, isn't he?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," admitted Alec, inwardly resenting
+the disapproval in her tone.
+"They do gamble in there, I know, and
+sometimes have a pretty tough row, but
+Stumpy is as kind-hearted a man as there
+is in the village."
+</p>
+<p>
+Throwing the blacking-brush hastily
+back into its box, Alec straightened himself
+up and faced his sister, "There,
+skip along now, Flip, like a good girl. I
+have to dress. And don't say a word to
+Aunt Eunice. I'll tell her myself."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa rose slowly from the bed and
+started toward the door. "I feel as if I
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>were in a horrible nightmare," she said.
+"What you have just told me about our&mdash;him,
+you know, and then your going
+away to live. It's all so sudden and so
+dreadful. O Alec, I can't stand it to have
+you go!"
+</p>
+<p>
+To his great surprise and confusion,
+for Philippa had never been demonstrative
+in her affection, she threw her arms
+round his neck, and, dropping her head
+on his shoulder, began sobbing violently.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, come now, Flip," he protested,
+awkwardly patting the heavy braids of
+hair swung over her shoulder; "I
+wouldn't have told you if I'd thought
+you'd take it so. I thought you had so
+much grit that you'd stand by me and
+back me up if Aunt Eunice objected.
+We're not going to be separated for ever.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">35]</a></span>From what the man told me of the business,
+I'm sure that I can make enough in
+a year or so to send for you. Then you
+can come and keep house for me, and
+we'll pay back every cent we've cost Aunt
+Eunice, so she'll have something in her
+old age. Oh, stop crying, like a good
+girl, Flip! Don't make it any harder for
+me than it already is. You don't want me
+to be late, do you, and miss the best
+chance of my life? Punctuality counts
+for everything when a man's looking for
+a reliable employee."
+</p>
+<p>
+Without a word, but still sobbing,
+Philippa rushed from the room. He
+heard her going down the back stairs and
+across the kitchen. When the outer door
+closed behind her, he knew as well as if
+he had seen her that she was running
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>down the orchard path to her old refuge
+in the June-apple-tree.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The stars ought to be out now,"
+thought Alec, a few minutes later, as he
+slipped into his best coat. Pulling up the
+shade, he peered out through the open
+window. "There'll not be any to-night,"
+he added; "looks as if it would rain."
+</p>
+<p>
+The wind was rising. It blew the muslin
+curtains softly across his face. It had
+driven Miss Eunice and Macklin from
+the porch. Alec could hear their voices
+in the sitting-room. Suddenly another
+puff of wind blew the hall door shut, and
+the cheerful sound was lost.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's certainly going to storm!" he
+exclaimed, aloud. Raising his lamp for
+one more scrutiny of himself in the little
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>mirror, he set it on his desk, while he
+hunted in the closet for an umbrella.
+</p>
+<p>
+When he reached the hotel, it was in
+the deepest voice that he could summon
+that he asked to be shown to Mr. Humphrey
+Long's room. Then he blushed,
+startled by its unfamiliar sound; it was so
+deep.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mr. Long was busy, he was told. He
+had been closeted in his room for an hour
+with a stranger who had taken supper
+with him, and had left orders that Alec,
+if he came, was not to be shown up till
+the other man had gone.
+</p>
+<p>
+Alec wandered from the office into the
+parlour, walking round nervously while
+he waited. Half an hour went by. He
+watched the clock anxiously, than desperately.
+The minutes were slipping by
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>so fast that he was afraid there would
+be no time for his turn before the bus
+started to the train. What if the other
+man should be taken in his stead after all
+Mr. Long's fair speeches! The thought
+made him break into a cold perspiration.
+He drummed nervously on the table beside
+him with impatient fingers.
+</p>
+<p>
+Presently, through his absorption,
+came the consciousness that the bell in
+the town hall was clanging the fire alarm.
+It was an unusual sound in the quiet little
+village. Noisy shouts in the next street
+proclaimed that the volunteer fire brigade
+was dragging out the hand-power
+engine and hose reel. From all directions
+came the sound of hurrying feet and
+the cry of "Fire! fire!"
+</p>
+<p>
+He rushed to the door and looked out.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>Half a mile toward the north, he judged
+the distance to be, an angry glow was
+spreading upward. It was in the direction
+of his home.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where's the fire, Bob?" called a
+voice across the street.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The old Macklin house," was the answer,
+tossed back over a man's shoulder
+as he ran. Instantly there flashed into
+Alec's mind the remembrance of the
+muslin curtains flapping across his face,
+and the lamp left near them on his desk.
+Had he blown it out or not? He could
+not remember. He tried to think as he
+dashed up the street after the running
+crowds.
+</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;"><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p>
+<a name="h2HCH0002" id="h2HCH0002"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;">&nbsp;</div>
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER II.
+</h2>
+<p>
+There was no faster runner in the
+village than Alec Stoker. In the last
+two field-day contests he had carried off
+the honours, and now he surpassed all
+previous records in that mad dash from
+the hotel to the burning house.
+</p>
+<p>
+Swift as he was, however, the flames
+were bursting from the windows of his
+room by the time he reached the gate, and
+curling up over the eaves with long, licking
+tongues. It was as he had feared.
+He had forgotten to put out the light,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>
+the curtains had blown over it, and,
+fanned by the rising wind, the fire had
+leaped from curtain to bed, from mosquito-bar
+to wall, until the whole room
+was in a blaze.
+</p>
+<p>
+Shielded by the tall cedars in front of
+the house, it had burned some time before
+a passing neighbour discovered it. By
+the time the alarm brought any response,
+the upper story was full of stifling pine
+smoke. The yard swarmed with neighbours
+when Alec reached it. In and out
+they ran, bumping precious old family
+portraits against wash-tubs and coal-scuttles,
+emptying bureau drawers into sheets,
+and dumping books and dishes in a pile
+in the orchard, in wildest confusion.
+Everything was taken out of the lower
+story. Even the carpets were ripped up
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>from the floors before the warning cry
+came to stand back, that the roof was
+about to fall in. The fire brigade turned
+its attention to saving the barn, but that
+was old, too, and burned like tinder, as
+the breath of the approaching storm
+fanned the flames higher and higher.
+</p>
+<p>
+As Alec leaned back against the fence,
+breathless and flushed from his frantic
+exertions, Philippa came up to him, carrying
+the parlour clock and her best hat.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Come on," she said; "we've got to
+get all these things under shelter before
+the storm strikes us, or they'll be spoiled.
+Mrs. Sears has offered us part of her
+house. There are four empty rooms in
+the west wing, and Aunt Eunice says that
+we can't do any better than to take them
+for awhile."
+</p>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>Again the neighbours came to the rescue,
+and, spurred on by the warning
+thunder, hurried the scattered household
+goods into shelter. They were all piled
+into one room in a hopeless tangle.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We'll not attempt to straighten out
+anything to-night," said Miss Eunice,
+looking round wearily when the last sympathetic
+neighbour had departed in time
+to escape the breaking storm. She and
+Philippa had accepted Mrs. Sears's offer
+of her guest-chamber for the night.
+Macklin had gone home with the minister's
+son. Alec had had many invitations,
+but he refused them all. With a morbid
+feeling that because his carelessness
+caused the fire he ought to do penance
+and not allow himself to be comfortable,
+he pulled a pillow and a mattress from
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>the pile of goods into the empty room
+adjoining, and threw himself down on
+that.
+</p>
+<p>
+In the excitement of the scene through
+which he had just passed, he had entirely
+forgotten the engagement he had run
+away from. Now, as he stretched himself
+wearily out on the mattress, it flashed
+across his mind that he had failed to keep
+his appointment, and that the man had
+gone. A groan of disappointment escaped
+him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If I wasn't born to a dog's luck!"
+he exclaimed, "to miss a position like
+that just when we need it the most.
+Goodness only knows what we are going
+to do now. But I needn't say that. It's
+a hard world, and there's no goodness
+in it."
+</p>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>The next instant, he pulled the sheet
+over his eyes to shut out the blinding
+glare of lightning that lit up the empty
+room. The crash of thunder that followed
+seemed to his distorted fancy the
+defiant challenge of all the powers of
+darkness. All sorts of rebellious thoughts
+flocked through the boy's mind, as he lay
+there in the darkness of the empty room,
+thinking bitterly of his thwarted plans.
+Midnight always magnifies troubles, and
+as he brooded over his disappointments
+and railed at his fate, not only his past
+wrongs loomed up to colossal size, but a
+vague premonition of worse evil to come
+began to weigh on him. It was nearly
+morning before he dropped into a troubled
+sleep.
+</p>
+<p>
+Refreshed by a long night's rest and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>the tempting breakfast Mrs. Sears spread
+for her three guests, Philippa soon recovered
+her usual gay spirits. The news that
+Alec had disclosed the night before,
+which sent her stunned and heart-sick to
+her retreat in the old apple-tree, had
+faded into the background in the excitement
+of the fire. She thought of it all
+the time she was dressing, but the keenness
+of her distress was not so overwhelming
+as it had been. It was like some old
+pain that had lost its worst sting in the
+healing passage of time.
+</p>
+<p>
+She was young enough to take a keen
+pleasure in the novelty of the situation,
+and ran up-stairs and down with hammer
+and broom, laughing and joking
+over the settlement of every picture and
+piece of furniture with contagious good
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>humour. Alec could not understand it.
+Even his Aunt Eunice was not as downcast
+as he had pictured her in the night,
+over the loss of her old home. With
+patient, steady effort, she moved along,
+bringing order out of confusion, and
+when Philippa's fresh young voice up-stairs
+broke out in the song that had come
+to be regarded as the family hymn, she
+joined in, at her work below, with a full,
+strong alto:
+</p>
+<div class='poem'>
+"Yet, in the maddening maze of things,<br>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">  Though tossed by storm and flood,</span><br>
+<span style="margin-left: 0.4em;">To one fixed trust my spirit clings:</span><br>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">  I know that God is good."</span><br>
+</div>
+<p>
+"Jine in, Br'er Stoker," called Philippa,
+laughingly waving her duster in
+the doorway. "Why don't you sing?"
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p>
+<p>
+Alec, who was prone on the floor, tacking
+down a bedroom carpet, hammered
+away without an answer. After waiting
+a minute, she dropped down on the floor
+beside him, upsetting a saucer full of
+tacks as she did so. "Say, Alec," she
+began, in a confidential tone, "what did
+the man at the hotel say last night? Is
+he going to take you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Of course not," was the sulky reply.
+"You didn't suppose I'd be lucky enough
+for that, did you? I didn't even see him.
+Another fellow was there ahead of me,
+and the fire-alarm sounded while I
+waited, and then it was all up. I couldn't
+dally round waiting for an interview
+when our home was burning, could I?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Maybe he left some word for you,"
+she suggested.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p>
+<p>
+"No; I ran down to the hotel to inquire,
+just as soon as I got the kitchen
+stove set up this morning. He left on the
+nine o'clock train last night, as he warned
+me he would, and as I didn't come according
+to my agreement, that's the last
+he'll ever think of me. Such luck as
+mine is, anyhow! It was my anxiety to
+get the place that made me go off and
+leave the lamp burning, and now I've
+not only missed the last chance I'll ever
+have, but I've been the means of burning
+the roof off from over our heads. You
+haven't any idea of the way I feel, Flip.
+I'm desperate! It fairly sets my teeth on
+edge to hear you go round singing of
+'The Eternal Goodness' when I'm
+knocked out every way I turn, no matter
+how hard I try."
+</p>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>"But, Alec," she answered, between
+taps of his noisy hammer, "it's foolish
+of you to take it so to heart, and look
+on nothing but the dark side. Of course,
+it is dreadful to be burned out of house
+and home, but it might have been lots
+worse. All the down-stairs furniture was
+saved, and the insurance company is going
+to put us up a nice little cottage as
+soon as possible. We were not without
+a roof over our heads for one single hour.
+Before the old one fell in, Mrs. Sears
+offered these rooms, and already things
+are beginning to look homelike. Mrs.
+Sears was one of our 'islands.'
+</p>
+<p>
+"There we were, you see. It was
+black night, and we didn't know which
+way to turn, but here were these empty
+rooms, all nice and clean, waiting for
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>us. And it will be the same way about
+your getting a place if you don't lose
+faith and courage. You'll float along
+awhile farther, and when you're least
+expecting it, you'll come on your island
+that's been waiting for you all the time."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, you don't know what you're talking
+about, Flip," answered Alec, impatiently,
+pounding away harder than ever.
+"You make me tired."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I do know what I'm talking about,"
+she retorted, scrambling to her feet;
+"and I'll let you know, sir, my singing
+doesn't set your teeth on edge half as bad
+as your sour looks do mine. I wouldn't
+be such a grumble-bug! You act like a
+baby instead of a boy who prides himself
+on being old enough to shave."
+</p>
+<p>
+With this parting thrust, she flounced
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>out of the room, unmindful of what he
+called after her, but she thought, guiltily,
+as she ran, "Now I've done it! He'll be
+furious all day; but I just had to! He
+needed somebody to shake him up out
+of himself, and I don't care!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Nevertheless, she sang no more that
+day, and a few tears dropped on her
+books, as she made a place for them on
+the shelves. All Alec's had been burned.
+He had lost more than any of them, for
+his was the only up-stairs room that was
+occupied. Philippa loved her brother
+too dearly not to suffer with him in all
+his losses and disappointments.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was a day of hard work for all of
+them, but four energetic, determined
+people can accomplish much, especially
+when one is a ten-year-old boy, whose
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>sturdy legs can make countless trips up
+and down stairs without tiring, and another
+is an athletic young fellow with the
+endurance of a man.
+</p>
+<p>
+Late in the afternoon, Alec made a
+final round of inspection. Up-stairs the
+two bedrooms were in spotless order.
+They were furnished even better than
+those in the old house, for the library
+rugs and curtains had found place there,
+with some of the best pictures and ornaments.
+Down-stairs Philippa was standing
+in the centre of the room, about to
+remove the cover and lamp from the
+dining-room table.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now it is the parlour," she said,
+gaily, waving her hand toward the old
+piano, the bookcases, and the familiar
+bric-à-brac on the mantel. "But shut
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>your eyes a minute, and&mdash;<i>abracadabra!</i>
+it's the dining-room." As she spoke, she
+whisked a white cloth on the old claw-footed
+mahogany table, and, throwing
+open a closet door, displayed the orderly
+rows of china.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We'll not have much for supper to-night,
+but I'm bound it shall be set out
+in style to celebrate our house-warming;
+so, Mack, if you have any legs left to
+toddle on, I wish you'd run out and get
+me a handful of purple asters to put in
+this glass bowl. I am glad that it wasn't
+broken. Some kind but agitated friend
+pitched it out of the window into the
+geranium bed."
+</p>
+<p>
+She rattled along gaily, with a furtive
+side-glance at Alec. He had had nothing
+to say to her since her outburst up-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>stairs, and now, ignoring her pleasantries,
+he walked into the kitchen in his most
+dignified manner.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is there anything more you want me
+to do, Aunt Eunice?" he asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+Finding that there was nothing just
+then, he went out to the side porch opening
+off the room which was to be used as
+both dining-room and parlour. He had
+hung the hammock there a little while
+before, and he threw himself into it with
+a sigh of relief. Swinging back and
+forth in the shelter of the vines, the feeling
+of comfort began to steal over him
+that comes with the relaxation of tired
+muscles. The rattle of dishes and aroma
+of hot coffee coming out to him were
+pleasantly suggestive to his healthy young
+appetite.
+</p>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>He closed his eyes, not intending to go
+to sleep, but the hammock stopped swinging
+almost instantly, and he did not hear
+the footsteps going past him a few minutes
+later, nor his Aunt Eunice's surprised
+cry of welcome as a tall, bearded
+stranger knocked at the door.
+</p>
+<p>
+The continuous murmur of voices
+finally roused him, and he lay there
+blinking and listening, trying to recognize
+the deep bass voice that laughed and
+talked so familiarly with his aunt.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The Lord has certainly sent you,
+Dick," Alec heard her say in a tremulous
+tone, and then he knew instantly who had
+come.
+</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span><br></p>
+
+<a name="image-0003"><!--IMG--></a>
+<div class="fig">
+<img src="images/illust-057.jpg" width="574" height="450"
+alt="" title="">
+<br>
+<span class="caption">"'THE LORD HAS CERTAINLY SENT YOU, DICK.'"</span>
+</div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span><br></p>
+<p>
+All his life he had heard of Dick
+Willis, one of the many boys his grandfather
+had befriended and taken into the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>shelter of his home for awhile. Dick
+had lived five years in the old house that
+had just burned, when Eunice and Sally
+Macklin were children; and all the
+stories of their school days were full of
+their foster-brother's mischievous sayings
+and doings.
+</p>
+<p>
+That the harum-scarum boy had given
+place to this middle-aged, successful
+business man, with the deep voice and
+big whiskers, was hard for Alec to realize,
+for in all Miss Eunice's reminiscences
+he had kept the perennial prankishness
+of youth. But now Alec, listening,
+learned the changes that had taken
+place since the man's last visit to his
+home. He had thought every year that
+he would come back for another visit, he
+told Miss Eunice, but he had put it off
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>from season to season, hard pressed by
+the demands of business, and now it was
+too late for him to ever see the old homestead
+again. He had seen an account of
+the fire in a paper which he read on the
+train on his way East, and he decided
+to stop his journey long enough to run
+over to the old place for a few hours, and
+see if she did not need his help. He
+wanted her to feel that he stood ready
+to give it to the extent of his power, and
+expected her to call upon him as freely
+as if he were a real brother.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then it was that Miss Eunice's tremulous
+voice exclaimed again: "The Lord
+has certainly sent you, Dick! I have
+been worried for weeks over Alec's future.
+There is no outlook here in the
+village for him. If you could only get
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>him a position somewhere&mdash;" She
+paused, the tears in her eyes. Alec listened
+breathlessly for his answer.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why didn't you write me before this,
+Eunice? My business, travelling for a
+wholesale shoe house, takes me over a
+wide territory and gives me a large acquaintance.
+I am sure that I can get him
+into something or other very soon. You
+know that I would do anything for
+Sally's boy, and when you add to that the
+fact that he is Alexander Macklin's
+grandson, and I owe everything I am
+under heaven to that man, you may know
+that I'd leave no stone unturned to repay
+a little of his kindness to me."
+</p>
+<p>
+Alec's heart gave a great throb of hope.
+The good cheer of the hearty voice inspired
+him with a courage he had not felt
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>in weeks. There was a patter of bare feet
+down the garden path, and, peering out
+between the vines, Alec saw one of the
+neighbour's boys coming in with a big
+dish covered carefully with a napkin.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's fried chicken," announced the
+boy, with a grin, as Alec went down the
+step to meet him. "Mother said to eat it
+while it was hot. She knew you all
+would be too tired to cook much to-night."
+</p>
+<p>
+Without waiting to hear Alec's thanks,
+he scampered down the path again and
+squeezed through the gap in the fence
+made by a missing picket. Alec carried
+the dish round the house to the kitchen,
+where Philippa was putting the finishing
+touches to the supper, in her aunt's stead.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did you know that Uncle Dick has
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>come?" she asked, joyfully. "Oh, how
+good of Mrs. Pine to send the chicken!
+We didn't have anything for supper but
+coffee and rolls and eggs. He's certainly
+bringing good things in his wake. How
+delicious that chicken does smell! Let's
+take it as a good omen, Alec, a forerunner
+of better days. He'll surely get you
+out of your slough of despond."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Who, Flip? The chicken or Uncle
+Dick?" asked Alec, in his old jesting way,
+giving one of her long braids a tweak
+as he passed. A heavy load seemed
+to lift itself from Philippa's heart at this
+sign of Alec's return to his merry old self.
+All during supper she kept glancing at
+him, for, absorbed in their guest's interesting
+reminiscences, he seemed to have
+forgotten the grievances he had brooded
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>over so long, and laughed and joked as
+he had not done for weeks.
+</p>
+<p>
+To their great regret, Uncle Dick had
+to leave that night. Alec walked to the
+station with him, feeling that he was being
+subjected to a very close cross-examination
+as to his capabilities and preferences.
+The train was late, and as they
+sat in the waiting-room, the man fell into
+a profound silence, his hands thrust into
+his pockets and his brows drawn together
+in deep thought.
+</p>
+<p>
+Finally he said: "You want to be a
+banker, like your grandfather. Well, I
+can't manage that, my boy. My influence
+doesn't lie in that direction. The best I
+can do is to get you in with the firm
+that manufactures all the shoes I sell. It
+is a big concern. The general manager
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>of the factory at Salesbury is a good
+friend of mine, and I happen to know he
+is on the lookout for a reliable young
+fellow to put in training as his assistant.
+He is constantly giving somebody a trial,
+but nobody measures up to his requirements.
+Whoever takes it must go through
+a regular apprenticeship in the factory
+and learn the business from the ground
+up. According to his ideas, you'd not be
+fitted until you'd tried your hand at every
+piece of machinery in the factory, and
+knew how to turn out a pair of shoes from
+the raw leather. The wages will be
+small at first. Some of the duties are
+disagreeable, many of the requirements
+exacting, but promotion is rapid, and
+probably by the end of the year you'd
+be in the office, learning to take an over<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>sight
+of the different departments; that
+is, if you had proved there was good stuff
+in you. If money is what you are after,
+this opening is better a thousand times
+than anything the village bank could give
+you in years, and in my opinion it's just
+as respectable a calling to handle leather
+as lucre. You'll have to work and work
+hard."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't mind how hard the work is,"
+answered Alec. "I hate to give up the
+one thing that has been my ambition all
+my life, but I have come to the point
+where I'd do anything honest to get a
+place somewhere out of this town. I'd
+even scrub floors. You don't know what
+I've been through this summer, Uncle
+Dick. Of course, you know about my
+father?"
+</p>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>He asked the question with such bitterness
+of tone that his listener scanned his
+face intently, then sympathetically.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, I must get away from that,"
+Alec continued. "It's an awful handicap.
+The thought of it made me desperate
+at times. If they should hear
+about him in Salesbury and turn me
+down on his account&mdash;well, I'd just give
+up! I couldn't stand any more than I
+have already suffered on his account."
+</p>
+<p>
+There was no answer for a minute,
+then the deep voice answered, cheerily:
+"Alec, your grandmother Macklin once
+told me that when she was a very small
+child she went to visit her grandmother;
+quite a remote ancestor of yours that
+would be, wouldn't it? For some reason,
+she was put to sleep in a trundle-bed
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>in the old lady's room, and along late in
+the night she was awakened by a very
+earnest voice. She sat up in the little
+trundle-bed to listen, and there was the
+old saint on her knees, praying for&mdash;now,
+what do you suppose? For 'all her
+posterity to the latest generation!' She
+said she didn't understand then what the
+words meant, but years afterward, when
+she held her first baby in her arms, they
+came back to her with a feeling of awe,
+to think that prayers uttered for him,
+long years before he was born, were still
+working to his blessing.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is the same with you, Alec. Evil
+influences were set afloat by your father's
+crime that will undoubtedly work against
+you many a time, but you must remember
+all the good that lies on the other hand
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>to counteract them. Even your great-great-grandmother's
+prayers must count
+for something in your behalf. I remember
+that Alexander Macklin planted an
+apple orchard after he was eighty years
+old. He never lived to gather even its
+first harvest, but you have been enjoying
+it all your life. He did a thousand unrecorded
+kindnesses that brought him no
+returns seemingly, but 'bread cast upon
+the waters' does come back after many
+days, my boy, every time. And you will
+be eating the results of that scattering all
+your life. The little that I may be able
+to do for you will only be the result of
+kindness he showed me, and which I
+could not repay, but am glad now to pass
+it on to his grandson. Don't grow bitter
+because of your father, and say that fate
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>has handicapped you. That admission of
+itself will sap your courage and go far
+toward defeating you. Say, instead,
+'<i>The Eternal Goodness</i> will more than
+compensate for the evil that this one
+man has wrought me.' Then go on,
+trusting in that, and win in spite of everything.
+The harder the struggle the more
+praise to the victor, you know."
+</p>
+<p>
+The whistle of the approaching train
+brought his little sermon to a close, and,
+seizing his satchel, he started hurriedly
+to the door. "I'll see the manager in a
+few days," he continued, hurriedly. "I
+have only a few stops to make this time
+on my way to Salesbury. Probably I'll
+have something definite to write you the
+last of the week. Good-bye and good
+luck to you!" He shook hands heartily,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>swung himself up on the platform, and
+disappeared into the car.
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa was waiting in the hammock
+with a shawl over her head when Alec
+returned. The moonlight nights were
+chilly, but she could not bear to go inside
+until she heard the result of their
+conversation.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, Alec," she exclaimed, as he came
+up wide awake and glowing from his
+walk and his hopeful interview, "wasn't
+it just like a lovely story to have the traditional
+uncle drop down long enough to
+restore the family fortunes and then disappear
+again?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, you're a good prophet," he
+laughed. "I drifted on to my island
+when I least expected it, and in the middle
+of my darkest night. Salesbury is
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>four hundred miles from here, Flip, and
+we sha'n't see each other often, so if it
+will be any comfort to you, you may say,
+'I told you so,' three times a day, from
+now on until I leave."
+
+</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" >
+<a name="h2HCH0003" id="h2HCH0003"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER III.
+</h2>
+<p>
+Philippa, coming home from school
+one afternoon, late in September, loitered
+at the gate for a few more words with the
+girls who had walked that far with her.
+Sometimes the little group lingered there
+until nearly sundown, between the laburnum
+bushes and hollyhocks of the old
+garden, but to-day, Alec's impatient
+whistle from an upper window signalled
+her. He waved a letter toward her, calling,
+excitedly, "It's come, Flip! It's
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>
+come! I'm to start in the morning. I'm
+packing my trunk now."
+</p>
+<p>
+With a hurried good-bye to the girls at
+the gate, Philippa rushed up the stairs to
+her brother's room. The bureau drawers
+had all been emptied on the bed, and
+every chair was full.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Here's some things that need buttons,"
+he announced, as she came in.
+"Aunt Eunice is pressing my best suit,
+and Mack has gone down-town after the
+shoes that I left to be half-soled. I'll
+have to rush, for the letter says to come at
+once. I didn't suppose they'd be in such
+a hurry. They're hustlers, I guess."
+</p>
+<p>
+His haste was so contagious that Philippa
+ran into the next room for her sewing-basket,
+without waiting to take off
+her hat, and sitting down on the floor
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>
+beside the window began to sew on buttons
+as fast as she asked questions. She
+always had plenty to say to Alec, and now
+that the time for conversation was limited
+to a few short hours, she could not talk
+fast enough.
+</p>
+<p>
+Presently the click of the gate made
+her look out. "Here comes Mack," she
+said. "Your shoes are wrapped in a
+newspaper, and he's so busy reading
+something on it that he doesn't know
+where he is going. Look out, snail!"
+she called; "you'll bump into the house
+in a minute if you are not careful!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The boy came slowly up the stairs still
+spelling out the paragraph that interested
+him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Alec," he said, pausing in the doorway,
+"what's a green goods man? This
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>
+says that a gang of 'em were arrested in
+New York. The detectives traced them
+by a letter one of them left here in Ridgeville
+at the hotel. Think of that! Jonas
+Clark is the man's real name, alias
+H-u-m-p-h," he spelled, "Humphrey (I
+guess it is) Long."
+</p>
+<p>
+Alec snatched the knotty bundle and
+glanced at the paragraph so eagerly that
+Philippa looked at him in surprise. She
+was still more surprised to see a deep
+flush spread over his face, as he tore the
+newspaper off the shoes and glanced at
+the date. Then he dropped it on the bed
+and began to fumble for something in
+the bottom of his trunk, saying, carelessly,
+"Oh, green goods men are just fellows
+who rope people in to buy counterfeit
+money. Here, Mack, you'll not have a
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>
+chance to run many more errands for me.
+Trot down to Aunt Eunice with these
+neckties, please, and ask her to press them
+for me while she's in the business."
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as Mack disappeared, Alec
+caught up the paper again. "Flip," he
+said, in an impressive voice, after his
+second reading, "do you remember the
+night of the fire I was to meet a man at
+the hotel and make the final arrangement
+with him for taking a position he had
+offered me?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa nodded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, that is the man; Humphrey
+Long. Think of what I have escaped.
+From what he said about his sure scheme
+for making money and making it easy, I
+know now that is what he meant; but I
+never suspected such a thing then. He
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>
+was the smoothest talker I ever saw, and
+was as gentlemanly and well dressed as
+the minister. And such a way as he had!
+He could almost make a body believe
+that black was white. Suppose I had
+gone off with him. Whillikens! but I
+would be in hot water now! Everybody
+would have said, 'Only a chip off the
+old block. Just what might have been
+expected with such a father.'"
+</p>
+<p>
+"But, Alec, you wouldn't have gone
+after he had told you what his business
+was!" Philippa exclaimed, in a horrified
+tone. "You know that you wouldn't."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," he answered, slowly, "but I
+think now that he intended to keep me
+in the dark till he got me just where he
+wanted me, in too deep to inform on
+them. And I was so desperate for a job
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>
+away from here that I would have accepted
+his offer with very few questions.
+Don't you see, my very ignorance of his
+schemes would have made me a better
+decoy in some cases than if I had not been
+such an innocent young duck. Of course,
+Stumpy Fisher told him all about me,"
+he added, after a moment's thought.
+"He might have counted on my being
+enough like my father to take kindly to
+his crookedness."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How queerly things work out!" said
+Philippa. "If you had had your own
+way, you'd have been off with that man
+and probably in jail with him now. But
+the fire stopped you. And if it hadn't
+been for the fire, Uncle Dick never
+would have been aroused to the necessity
+of leaving his business long enough to
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>
+make us a visit, and if it hadn't been for
+the visit you never would have had this
+position in Salesbury."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's so," Alec assented, gravely.
+"It's a whole chain of those islands that
+you and Aunt Eunice are always singing
+about. I'll make a map of them some
+day and name each one: 'Fire Island,'
+'Isle of Uncle Dick,' etc. Then I'll
+name the whole group after you: 'Flip's
+Providence Islands,' or something like
+that."
+</p>
+<p>
+Then the subject was dropped, as
+Macklin came clattering back up the
+stairs.
+</p>
+<hr style="width: 25%;">
+<p>
+If the history of Alec's experiences
+during the next few weeks could have
+been written, it would have differed little
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>
+from that of thousands of boys who
+yearly leave farm and village to push
+their way into the already overcrowded
+cities. Eager and hopeful, his ambition
+placed no limit to the success he meant
+to achieve. That he might fall short of
+the goal he set for himself never once
+entered his thoughts. He knew the conditions
+requisite to success, and felt an
+honest pride in the consciousness that he
+could meet them. He had a strong,
+healthy body, a thorough education so
+far as the high school could take him,
+good habits, and high ideals.
+</p>
+<p>
+As the train whirled him on toward
+Salesbury, he felt that at last he was placing
+himself in line with the long list of
+illustrious men who had begun life as
+poor boys and ended it as the benefactors
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>
+of mankind. And he felt that he had a
+distinct advantage over Franklin and
+some of his ilk, for he faced his future
+with far more than a loaf of bread under
+his arm. Forward in the baggage-car
+his grandfather's old leather trunk held
+ample provision for his present, and an
+assured position awaited him.
+</p>
+<p>
+Salesbury was not a large city, but it
+seemed a crowded metropolis to Alec's
+eyes, accustomed to the quiet life of the
+little inland village. But it was not as
+a gaping backwoodsman he viewed its
+sights. If he had never seen a trolley-car
+before, he had carefully studied the
+power that propels one. The whir and
+clang, the rush of automobiles, the pounding
+of machinery in the great factory all
+seemed familiar, because they were a
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>
+part of the world he had learned to know
+in his extensive reading. Keenly alive
+to new impressions, he was so interested
+in everything that went on round him
+that he had little time to be lonesome at
+first.
+</p>
+<p>
+He stayed only a few days at the hotel.
+Anxious to repay his Aunt Eunice as
+soon as possible the money she had spent
+in replenishing his wardrobe after the
+fire, and defraying his travelling expenses,
+he took a room in a lodging-house,
+and his meals at a cheap restaurant.
+In that way he was able to save
+nearly twice as much each week toward
+cancelling his indebtedness.
+</p>
+<p>
+The letters he wrote home were re-read
+many times. They were so bright and
+cheerful and full of interesting descrip<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>tions.
+He didn't like the work in the
+factory, but he liked the manager, and
+with the determination to make his apprenticeship
+as short as possible and gain
+a place in the office, he pegged away with
+a faithfulness and energy that he felt sure
+must bring a speedy reward.
+</p>
+<p>
+Not till the cold November nights
+came did Miss Eunice detect a little note
+of homesickness creeping into his letters.
+She would not have wondered could she
+have looked in on him while he wrote,
+buttoned up in his overcoat and with his
+hat on. His chilly little bedroom, with
+its dim lamp and worn matting, was a
+dismal contrast to the cheerful home
+where he had always spent his winter
+evenings. Then she noticed that there
+was nearly always some reference to the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>
+restaurant fare, some longing expressed
+for one more taste of her cooking&mdash;the
+good cream gravy, the mince turnovers,
+the crisp doughnuts that had been his
+favourite dishes at home.
+</p>
+<p>
+Once he wrote to Philippa:
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>
+"Think of it, Flip! I don't know a
+single girl in town. Excepting my landlady,
+I haven't spoken to a woman since
+I pulled out of the depot at Ridgeville
+two months ago. It seems so strange to
+know only the factory fellows, when at
+home I was acquainted with everybody.
+The manager, Mr. Windom, has a pretty
+daughter whom I'd give a good deal to
+know. She drives down to the office with
+him sometimes, and I see her at church.
+She looks something like your chum,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>
+Nordic Gray, laughing sort of eyes, and
+soft, light hair, and a saucy little nose
+like your own."
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+Later, in a reply to a question from
+Miss Eunice, he wrote:
+</p>
+<div class="blockquot"><p>
+"No, I haven't put in my church letter
+yet. I took it with me every Sunday
+for awhile, but I can't get screwed up to
+the point, somehow. People here are so
+stand-offish with strangers. I've gone
+pretty regularly, but nobody has spoken
+to me yet. I suppose they think that a
+gawky country boy doesn't belong in such
+a fashionable congregation. The minister
+doesn't come down after service to
+shake hands with people, as Doctor
+Meldrum does at home. They have a
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>
+Christian Endeavour Society that I think
+might be nice if there was any way of
+breaking the ice to get into it. The
+young people seem to have the best kind
+of times among themselves, but they don't
+seem to care for anybody that hasn't the
+inside track in their exclusive little circle."
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+Then the letters grew shorter. "He
+had no time to write during the day," he
+explained. At night he was either so
+tired that he went to bed as soon as he
+had his supper, or some of the boys that
+worked where he did came round for
+him to go out with them. He had been
+to the library several times, and to a free
+band-concert. When he was out of debt,
+he intended to get a season lecture course<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>
+ticket and go to other entertainments once
+in awhile to keep from getting the blues.
+</p>
+<p>
+He did not mention some of the other
+places to which he had gone with the
+boys. It would only worry his Aunt Eunice,
+he thought. Probably she wouldn't
+think it was any harm if she lived in
+the city. People in little places were apt
+to be narrow-minded, he told himself.
+He could feel that his own opinions were
+broadening every day.
+</p>
+<p>
+He wrote to Macklin on Thanksgiving
+Day, saying that he intended to make the
+most of his holiday and skate all the
+afternoon. He was glad that he had
+brought his skates, for the ice was in fine
+condition. That was the last letter home
+for two weeks.
+</p>
+<p>
+While Miss Eunice worried, and Phi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>lippa
+haunted the post-office, he was lying
+ill in his cheerless little bedroom, on
+the top floor of the cheap lodging-house.
+He had skated not only Thanksgiving
+afternoon, but again at night when the ice
+was illuminated by bonfires and lanterns.
+There was a danger-signal posted farther
+down where the ice was thin. He had
+avoided it all the afternoon, but intent
+on cutting some fancy figure one of the
+boys had taught him, he did not notice
+how near he was to the dangerous spot
+until he heard a cracking noise all round
+him, and it was too late to save himself
+from a plunge into the icy water.
+</p>
+<p>
+Although he was helped out immediately,
+and ran every step of the way to his
+room, he was shaking with a chill when
+he reached it. All the covering he could
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>
+pile on the bed did not stop the chattering
+of his teeth as he lay shivering between
+the cold sheets. In the morning he was
+burning with fever. There was such a
+sharp pain in his lungs that he could not
+draw a full breath.
+</p>
+<p>
+He tried to get up and dress, but the
+attempt made him so weak and dizzy
+that he could only stagger back to bed
+and lie there in a sort of stupor. It was
+not quite clear to him who brought a
+doctor, but one came in the course of the
+morning and left two kinds of little pellets
+and a glass of water on the chair
+beside his bed. He was to take two pink
+pellets every hour and one white one
+every two hours, he was told.
+</p>
+<p>
+There was no clock in the room, and
+he had no watch, but the engine-house
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>
+bell in the next block clanged the alarm
+regularly.
+</p>
+<p>
+The responsibility of giving himself
+his own medicine kept him from dropping
+asleep as he longed to do. He
+would doze for a few minutes and start
+up, fearing that he had let the time go
+by, or that he had taken a double dose,
+or that he had confused directions. Was
+it two pink ones or two white ones, or one
+hour or two hours? He said it over and
+over with every variation possible. The
+confusion was maddening.
+</p>
+<p>
+The pain in his lungs grew worse. He
+was burning with thirst, but there was no
+more water in the glass. He looked
+round the room with feverish, aching
+eyes, that suddenly filled with hot tears.
+If he could only be back in his own room
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>
+at home, with Aunt Eunice to care for
+him, and Flip to make him comfortable,
+how good it would seem! He was tasting
+to the dregs the misery of being ill,
+all alone among strangers.
+</p>
+<p>
+Toward evening the woman who kept
+the lodging-house sent a little coloured
+boy up to ask if he wanted anything. A
+pitcher of water was all that Alec asked
+for. That being supplied, the boy shut
+the door and clattered down the hall,
+whistling. The night seemed endless.
+Hour after hour he started up shuddering,
+as the bell's loud clang awakened
+him, not knowing what it was that startled
+him. In his feverish hallucinations
+he thought he was continually breaking
+through the ice into a sea of burning
+water. He kept clutching at the pillows,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>
+thinking they were islands that he was
+for ever drifting past and could never
+reach.
+</p>
+<p>
+When morning came at last, and the
+doctor made his second visit, he found
+Alec delirious and the medicine still on
+the chair beside the bed. With one
+glance round the cheerless room, he
+shrugged his shoulders and went out for
+help.
+</p>
+<p>
+When Alec next noticed his surroundings
+with eyes that were once more clear
+and rational, he saw that the dingy little
+grate had been opened and a bright fire
+was burning in it. The clothing he had
+left on the floor in a heap had been put
+away. The window shade no longer
+hung askew. He looked round half-expecting
+to see his Aunt Eunice or Flip,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>
+and wondered if he had been so ill that
+some one had sent for them. Then his
+glance fell on a grizzled old man with
+a wooden leg, dozing in a rocking-chair
+by the fire.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Old Jimmy Scott!" Alec said to
+himself after a moment's puzzled scrutiny,
+in which he racked his brain to
+recall where he had seen the face before.
+Finally he remembered. One of
+the boys had pointed him out as an old
+soldier who had taken to nursing when
+he could no longer fight. He held no
+diploma from any training-school for
+nurses, he was uncouth and rough in
+many ways, but his varied experiences
+had made him a valuable assistant to the
+doctor, whom he called his general, and
+obeyed with military exactness.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>
+</p>
+<p>
+As Alec stirred on his pillow, the old
+soldier looked up, and then hobbled over
+to the bed as quietly as his wooden leg
+would allow. He bent over him, felt his
+pulse, and then said, cheerfully, "All
+right, buddy, guess it's time now for rations."
+Taking a covered cup from the
+hob on the grate, he deftly put a spoonful
+of hot beef tea to Alec's lips.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You had a pretty close call, young
+man," he said, in response to Alec's attempt
+to question him. "A leetle more
+and it would have been double pneumonia.
+But you're about out of the
+woods now. We'll soon have you on your
+feet." Giving his patient a few more
+spoonfuls, he drew the covers gently in
+place, saying, "Now don't you talk any
+more. Turn over and go to sleep."
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>
+</p>
+<p>
+Weak, yet thrilled with a delightful
+sense of comfort and freedom from pain,
+Alec obeyed unquestioningly. True, a
+thought did trail teasingly across his
+mind for a moment, a dim wonder as to
+where the money was to come from to
+pay for the expensive luxuries of nurse
+and doctor and medicines and fire, but
+it faded presently, and instead his Aunt
+Eunice's old song took its place:
+</p>
+<div class='poem'>
+"I know not where His islands lift<br>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Their fronded palms in air;</span><br>
+<span style="margin-left: 0.4em;">I only know I cannot drift</span><br>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beyond&mdash;beyond&mdash;beyond&mdash;"</span><br>
+</div>
+<p>
+He groped languidly for the final
+words, but could not recall them.
+"Never mind," he thought, drowsily;
+"I've got as far as old Jimmy Scott, and
+that's a big enough island for this trip."
+</p>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>
+A most comfortable stopping-place old
+Jimmy proved to be.
+</p>
+<p>
+Considerate as a woman of his patient's
+comfort, cheerful, tireless, and prompt as
+a minute-gun in carrying out the doctor's
+instructions, it was not long before he had
+Alec sitting up for a little while each day.
+With such an old philosopher to keep
+him company, and entertained by the old
+veteran's endless fund of anecdote, Alec
+enjoyed those few days of convalescence
+more than he could have believed possible.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It isn't such a bad sort of world, after
+all," he remarked one morning, the day
+after the minister had called. "It is
+strange what a difference knowing persons
+makes in the way you feel toward
+them. The minister was as cordial and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>
+friendly as Doctor Meldrum used to be
+in Ridgeville. Wonder how he found
+out about me? I didn't know he'd ever
+heard of me or noticed me in the congregation."
+</p>
+<p>
+Old Jimmy made no reply, although he
+longed to say: "He came because I sent
+for him, buddy, as people ought to do.
+They are quick enough to send for a doctor
+when their bodies are sick, but when
+they are out of sorts either physically or
+mentally they never think of letting their
+minister know. They hang back and feel
+hurt if he doesn't come, just as if he could
+tell by intuition or a sort of sixth sense
+that he's needed. How can a D. D. be
+expected to know when you want him,
+any more than an M. D.?"
+</p>
+<p>
+That afternoon as Alec sat propped up
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>
+by the window for a little while, looking
+down on the snowy street, there was a
+knock at the door. Old Jimmy, answering
+it, came back with a florist's box addressed,
+"Mr. Alec Stoker, with best
+wishes and sympathy of the Grace
+Church Christian Endeavour Society."
+Inside was a fragrant bunch of hothouse
+roses.
+</p>
+<p>
+Alec held them up in amazement.
+"Why should they have sent them to
+me?" he cried. There was no Endeavour
+society in Ridgeville, and he did not
+understand its methods.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The flower committee sends 'em to
+all the sick people in the congregation,"
+explained Jimmy. "Posies and piety
+always sorter go together, seems like.
+Pretty, ain't they? But they ain't half
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>
+so pretty as the young ladies that brought
+'em."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Young ladies!" gasped Alec, looking
+toward the door.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, the flower committee itself, I
+suppose. I didn't know two of them.
+But one of them you ought to know,
+buddy, seeing as it's the daughter of your
+boss. Thomas Windom's daughter&mdash;Avery,
+I believe they call her."
+</p>
+<p>
+Alec's heart gave a thump. Avery
+Windom was the pretty girl he had written
+to Flip about; the one whom he had
+wanted of all others to know; and she
+had climbed to his door, had left the
+roses; it seemed too strange to be true.
+</p>
+<p>
+He leaned toward the window and
+looked down. Yes, there she went with
+her friends, fluttering along the snowy
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>
+street. He could see the gleam of her
+soft, light hair under her velvet hat. Her
+cheeks were flushed with her walk in the
+cold. He leaned eagerly nearer the window
+as she fluttered along, farther and
+farther down the street, until she was lost
+in the crowd. Then he lay back in the
+chair with a sigh. It seemed so long
+since he had lived in a world where there
+were bright, friendly girls like Flip.
+The sight of these who had been so near
+made him homesick for the old friends of
+his school days, and he began to talk to
+old Jimmy about his sister and the good
+times they used to have together.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I wonder which one wrote this card,"
+he thought, as he slipped it out of the
+box. "I am sure she did. The handwriting
+is so light and graceful, just like
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>
+her. So her name is Avery. I might
+have known it would be different from
+other girls'. Avery! Avery!" he repeated
+softly, while old Jimmy stumped
+out into the hall for some water in which
+to put the roses. "It's a pretty name. I
+wonder if I'll ever know her well enough
+to call her that."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Time to get back into bed now," said
+old Jimmy, coming in with the pitcher.
+He placed the roses in it on a stand beside
+the bed. "Mustn't overdo matters."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, indeed," said Alec, with a new
+note of determination in his voice which
+did not escape old Jimmy. "I've got to
+get well in a hurry now, and go back to
+work." Then he settled himself on his
+pillow, and lay smiling happily at the
+roses.
+</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<a name="h2HCH0004" id="h2HCH0004"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER IV.
+</h2>
+<p>
+If the calendar over Alec's mantel
+could have told the history of the next
+few weeks, it would have been the record
+of a hard struggle with homesickness and
+discouragement. There was a heavy
+black cross drawn through the date of
+his return to work. He had come in
+that night when it was over weighed
+down with the fact that his wages had
+been stopped in his absence, and that it
+would take a long time to pay the debts
+incurred during his illness.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a zigzag line struck twice
+across the calendar below that date.
+"That much goes for the doctor!" he
+exclaimed, fiercely checking off the time
+with a stubby pencil. "And that much
+to old Jimmy, and that much for fire and
+extras. It'll take way into the new year
+to get straightened out. Luckily I am
+nearly through with my debt to Aunt
+Eunice."
+</p>
+<p>
+Later there was a tiny star drawn in
+the corner of one date. It marked the
+Sabbath evening he had gone to the
+Christian Endeavour praise service and
+heard Avery Windom sing. He had
+been introduced to half a dozen of the
+boys and girls, and been invited to come
+again, and had gone back to his calendar
+to count the nights until the next meeting.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>
+Ever since he had left home, he had
+longed with a longing that was like hunger
+for the companionship of young people
+such as he had known at home.
+There was a blur over one of the dates,
+the little square that marked the twenty-fifth
+of December. It was a red-letter
+day on the calendar, but in Alec's bare
+little room a holiday that dragged its
+dismal length out toward dark, like a
+dull ache.
+</p>
+<p>
+The box that had been sent him from
+home failed to reach him till the next
+day. Standing with his hands in his
+pockets, looking out over the snowy roofs
+of the city, he recalled all the merry
+Christmas days at home, since the first
+time he and Flip had hung up their
+stockings beside their grandfather's wide
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>
+chimney-seat. This was the first time
+he had ever missed following the old
+custom. The city seemed overflowing
+with the joy and good-will of the Yuletide,
+yet none of it was for him. He had
+never felt so utterly left out and alone in
+all his life.
+</p>
+<p>
+Despite his seventeen years, there was
+an ache in his throat that he could not
+drive back, and when he laid down the
+calendar he had been mechanically examining,
+although he whistled bravely,
+there was a telltale blur on the page.
+</p>
+<p>
+But there came a day when he tore off
+the leaf that was crossed with the double
+black lines meaning debt and worry, and
+began a fresh sheet which seemed to
+promise better days. A change of work
+came the first of February, and a slight
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>
+advance in wages. The manager, who
+had kept a keen eye on him, was beginning
+to think that at last he had found
+a boy who was worth training, and that
+if he proved as efficient in every stage
+of his apprenticeship as he had in the
+first, he would soon have the capable assistant
+that he had long been in search
+of.
+</p>
+<p>
+Alec's notification of his promotion
+was in the envelope which held his check
+for the last week in January. He did
+not see it until he stepped into the bank
+to have the check cashed, and in his delight
+and surprise he could scarcely refrain
+from turning a handspring.
+</p>
+<p>
+So many people were ahead of him
+that he had to stand several minutes
+awaiting his turn at the little barred win<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>dow.
+In that time he made several rapid
+calculations on the back of the envelope.
+</p>
+<a name="image-0004"><!--IMG--></a>
+<div class="fig">
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span></p>
+<img src="images/illust-109.jpg" width="421" height="561"
+alt="" title="">
+<br>
+<span class="caption">
+"HE MADE SEVERAL RAPID CALCULATIONS ON THE
+BACK OF THE ENVELOPE."</span>
+</div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span><br></p>
+<p>
+"Can you give me five dollars of that
+in gold?" he asked of the cashier when
+his turn finally came. With a nod of
+assent, the cashier counted out several
+small bills, and laid a shining five-dollar
+gold piece on top. Alec seized it eagerly
+and, thrusting the bills into his pocket,
+walked out with the coin in his hand.
+</p>
+<p>
+Long ago he had decided how to spend
+his first surplus five dollars if it came in
+time. It should go as a happy surprise
+to Flip on her sixteenth birthday. It had
+come in time. Her birthday was on the
+twenty-first of the month. At first he
+thought he could not wait three long
+weeks before sending it. He wanted her
+to have the pleasure and surprise of rec<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>eiving
+it at once; and he wanted the
+thrill of feeling that he was man enough
+not only to be self-supporting, but to help
+care for his sister.
+</p>
+<p>
+He wrapped the coin in a bit of tissue-paper,
+torn from the shaving-case Flip
+had sent him in the delayed Christmas
+box. Then he carefully put it in the
+inner pocket of the old wallet he carried.
+But scarcely a night passed between that
+time and the twentieth that he did not
+take a peep at the coin, and then count
+the days on his calendar.
+</p>
+<p>
+Ever since the night of the praise service,
+when he first heard Avery Windom
+sing, he had been a regular attendant at
+the Christian Endeavour meetings. It
+was like a bit of home to sit there in the
+midst of the young people, singing the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>
+familiar old hymns, and he sang them so
+heartily and entered into the exercises of
+the meeting with such zest that he soon
+lost the feeling that he was only a stranger
+within the gates.
+</p>
+<p>
+There were some, it is true, who were
+only coolly polite to him, thinking of his
+position, an unknown boy working in the
+shoe factory as a common labourer. He
+felt the chill of their manner keenly, and
+he knew why he was so pointedly ignored.
+It was not a deeply spiritual
+society. Only a few of the members were
+really consecrated Christians. There
+were more socials and concerts and literary
+evenings than devotional meetings.
+Most of the members belonged to old,
+wealthy families, and had always been
+accustomed to leisure and pocket-money.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>
+Alec soon realized the bounds that were
+set to his social privileges. He might
+take a prominent part in the meetings,
+even be asked to lead on occasions, be put
+on committees, be assigned many tasks in
+connection with suppers and festivals, but
+outside of his church relationship he
+was never noticed. No hospitable home
+swung open its doors for him.
+</p>
+<p>
+Only one who has lived in a country
+place, which knows no class distinctions,
+where character is all that counts, and
+where the butcher and baker may be
+bidden any day, in simple village fashion,
+to banquet with the judge, only such an
+one can understand the feeling of a boy
+in Alec's position. He wondered sometimes,
+with a sudden sinking of the heart,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>
+what would be the result if they knew
+about his father.
+</p>
+<p>
+He never looked at Avery Windom
+without thinking of it. He used to watch
+her in church, sitting up between her
+aristocratic father and mother, sweet and
+refined, like a dainty white flower. He
+wondered if her slim-gloved hand would
+ever be held out to him again in greeting,
+as it had been on several occasions, if she
+knew that he was the son of a criminal.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then he wondered what she would
+think if she knew that the touch of that
+little hand in his had been like the saving
+touch of a guardian angel. Once, urged
+on by one of the factory boys, an almost
+overwhelming temptation had seized
+him, but the remembrance that if he
+yielded he would never again be fit to
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>
+take her hand made him thrust his into
+his pockets and turn away toward home
+with a shrug of the shoulders.
+</p>
+<p>
+Avery, as ignorant of the influence she
+was exerting as a lily is of the fragrance
+it sheds, went serenely on in her gentle,
+high-bred way. Alec held no larger
+place in her thoughts than any other of
+the employees in her father's factory.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Flip would call her one of my islands,"
+he said to himself one night, as
+he parted on the corner from a crowd of
+boys who were begging him to go with
+them for a little game of cards and a lark
+afterward. "No telling where I would
+have drifted if it hadn't been for her.
+It's no easy matter to keep straight when
+you're all alone in a city as big and tough
+as this."
+</p>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>
+On his way home, he stopped at the
+library for a book he had heard her mention.
+He had overheard her quoting a
+line from Sir Galahad, and although he
+knew the story well of the maiden knight
+"whose strength was as the strength of
+ten because his heart was pure," it took
+on a new meaning because she had
+praised it. He learned the entire poem
+by heart, and the inspiration of the lines
+as he bent over his work in the factory
+gave him many an uplift that left him
+more nearly the man whom he imagined
+Avery's ideal to be.
+</p>
+<p>
+One other date was marked on the calendar
+with a star before Flip's birthday
+came round. It was the night of the literary
+contest at the high school, when
+Avery's essay took the prize. Alec had
+man&oelig;uvred for a week to get a ticket,
+and finally procured one from the head
+bookkeeper at the factory, whose sister
+taught in the high school.
+</p>
+<p>
+He lingered a little while after the
+contest in the outskirts of the crowd that
+flocked up to congratulate Avery. She
+came out to the carriage on her father's
+arm, with a fleecy evening cloak wrapped
+round her, and he saw the prize. She
+held it out a moment in her bare, white
+hand to some one who stood near Alec.
+It was a bright five-dollar gold piece.
+</p>
+<a name="image-0005"><!--IMG--></a>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span><br></p>
+<div class="fig">
+<img src="images/illust-117.jpg" width="357" height="561"
+alt="" title="">
+<br>
+<span class="caption">
+&quot;"'IT'S THE FIRST MONEY I EVER EARNED IN MY
+LIFE,' SHE SAID, GLEEFULLY."</span>
+</div>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span><br>
+</p>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>
+"It's the first money I ever earned in
+my life," she said, gleefully, including
+Alec in her smile, so that he felt that the
+remark was addressed to him. "It is so
+precious I shall have to put it under a
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>
+glass case. Maybe I can never earn another
+one."
+</p>
+<p>
+In his room once more, Alec took out
+his little gold coin, and, looking at it,
+thought he could understand just how
+proud Avery must feel of hers.
+</p>
+<p>
+The next time he saw her it was at
+a Christian Endeavour meeting. Ralph
+Bently was with her, a gentlemanly, elegant
+boy in appearance, but Alec knew
+the reputation he had among the young
+fellows who knew him best, and it made
+him set his teeth together hard to see him
+with a girl as pure and refined as Avery.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He isn't fit," he thought. "He
+shouldn't speak to Flip if I could prevent
+it, and even if he is Avery's cousin
+and such a young boy, Mr. Windom
+oughtn't to let him into the house."
+</p>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>
+For several weeks, at every meeting,
+the president had made an especial appeal
+for larger contributions. A large,
+expensive organ was being built for the
+church. The Christian Endeavour Society
+had pledged themselves to pay five
+hundred dollars of the amount due on
+it, but part of the sum was still lacking,
+even after all the socials and fairs that
+had been given to raise the amount. The
+president urged each member to add a
+little to his previous subscription, even
+at the cost of much self-denial.
+</p>
+<p>
+Alec had been asked to assume the duty
+of regularly passing one of the collection
+boxes at the Sunday night services. He
+had done this so often in the Sunday
+school at home that he felt no embarrassment
+in doing so now, except when he
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>
+reached the row of chairs where Avery
+and her cousin sat. He sneezed just as
+he extended the long-handled collection
+box toward them, and flushed hotly for
+having called every one's attention to
+himself by the loud noise.
+</p>
+<p>
+The other collector, having finished
+first, placed his box on the secretary's
+little stand and went back to his seat. As
+Alec came forward, the president asked
+him in a low tone to count the money, and
+be ready to report the amount after the
+singing of the last hymn.
+</p>
+<p>
+Turning his back to the audience, Alec
+emptied both boxes into the seat of the
+big pulpit chair standing next to the president's.
+The two chairs were old Gothic
+ones, recently retired from the church
+pulpit to make room for new furniture.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>
+There were a number of pennies in the
+lot, and during the singing he counted
+them carefully several times, in order to
+be sure that he had made no mistake.
+</p>
+<p>
+The hymn was a short one. It came to
+an end as Alec laid several little piles of
+coin on the table at the secretary's elbow.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Four dollars and ninety-six cents, did
+you say?" repeated the president, leaning
+over to catch the report Alec gave
+in an undertone. "Four dollars and
+ninety-six cents," he announced aloud.
+"Really we must do better than that."
+</p>
+<p>
+Alec saw Avery and Ralph exchange
+surprised glances. The president went
+on repeating his former explanations of
+their financial difficulties. Alec, still
+watching, saw Ralph Bently make a
+move to rise, and Avery's hand was laid
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>
+detainingly on his arm. She was whispering
+and shaking her head; but Ralph
+was not to be deterred by any remonstrance.
+He was on his feet, exclaiming:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mr. President, pardon the interruption.
+There is some mistake in that report!
+The collection should amount to
+far more than four dollars and ninety-six
+cents. Miss Windom alone gave more
+than that. I saw her drop a five-dollar
+gold piece into the box."
+</p>
+<p>
+Avery blushed furiously at being called
+into public notice in such a manner by
+her impetuous young cousin. Every
+drop of blood seemed to leave Alec's face
+for an instant, and then rushed back until
+it burned a fiery crimson. He was indignant
+that Ralph Bently should have been
+so wanting in courtesy as to proclaim in
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>
+public the amount of his cousin's donation,
+the cherished gold piece she had
+won at the prize contest. And he was
+deeply mortified to think that he could
+have made a mistake in counting it. He
+wondered if he could have been such a
+fool as to have mistaken the coin for a
+new penny. What would Avery think of
+him?
+</p>
+<p>
+He turned toward the table, evidently
+disturbed, and counted the money again.
+Then he shook his head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You can see for yourself," he said;
+"four dollars and ninety-six cents!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The president picked up both boxes,
+and, turning them upside down over the
+table, shook them energetically. The
+secretary shoved back the chair in which
+the money had been counted, gave it a
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>
+tip that would have dislodged any coin
+left on its smooth plush seat, and peered
+anxiously round on the floor.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't give it another thought, Mr.
+Stoker, please don't!" exclaimed Avery,
+going up to him when her attention was
+called to his worried expression. "I'm
+sure it has rolled off into some corner
+and the janitor will find it when he
+sweeps. I'll speak to him about it. Anyhow,
+it is too small a matter to make such
+a fuss over. I never should have told
+Ralph what it was if he hadn't teased me
+about what I had tied up in the corner
+of my handkerchief." Then she passed
+on with a smile.
+</p>
+<p>
+Alec lingered to help collect the hymn-books,
+and when he passed into the vesti<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>bule
+he heard voices on the outer steps.
+One of them sounded like Ralph Bently's.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, maybe so!" it exclaimed, with a
+disagreeable little laugh; "but it's queer
+how money will stick to some people's
+fingers."
+</p>
+<p>
+Alec, who was in the act of opening
+the door to go from the prayer-meeting
+room into the auditorium of the church
+for the evening service, paused an instant.
+He was overwhelmed by the sudden conviction
+that he was the person meant.
+</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<a name="h2HCH0005" id="h2HCH0005"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER V.
+</h2>
+<p>
+The next day at noon, after a hurried
+lunch at the restaurant, Alec stopped at
+the post-office on his way back to the factory.
+He wanted to add a few lines to
+the birthday letter which he had written
+Philippa the night before. He wrote
+them standing at the public desk; then,
+drawing the old wallet from his pocket,
+he took out the long-cherished gold coin
+from its wrapping of tissue-paper and
+dropped it into the envelope.
+</p>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>
+"I'm afraid it isn't safe to send it that
+way," he said to himself, balancing the
+letter on two fingers. "It is so heavy
+that any one could guess what's in it, and
+it might wear through. I did want her
+to have it in gold, but I suppose it will
+be more sensible to send a postal order."
+</p>
+<p>
+After a moment's deliberation, he
+turned to the window beside the desk,
+and asked for a money-order blank.
+Some one came in while he was filling
+it out, but he was so absorbed in his occupation
+that he did not look up until he
+turned to push the slip and the money
+through the window bars toward the
+clerk. Then he saw that it was Ralph
+Bently who stood behind him, flipping a
+postal order in his fingers, impatient to
+have it cashed. They exchanged careless
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>
+nods, and Alec, sealing his letter,
+dropped it into the box and hurried back
+to his work. As the outer door swung
+shut, Bently leaned his arms on the window
+ledge and spoke to the clerk, who
+was an intimate friend of his.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Say, Billy," he exclaimed, "let me
+see that coin that Stoker paid you just
+now, will you? Push it out here a minute."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What's up?" inquired the clerk, as
+he complied with the request.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, nothing much. I just wanted to
+look at the date." As he examined it, he
+gave a long whistle. "Whe-ew! It's the
+same. Curious coincidence, I must say!
+This young brother takes up a collection
+Sunday night. Avery drops in her five-dollar
+gold piece that she got as a prize,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>
+you know. Collector turns his back on
+the meeting to count the money, hands in
+a report of only four dollars and ninety-six
+cents. Vows he never saw the gold
+in the box. A thorough search of the
+room fails to bring it to light. Nobody
+can imagine how it disappeared. The
+next morning he has a coin of the same
+date to dispose of."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Who is the fellow, anyway?" asked
+the clerk.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's just it! Who is he? Nobody
+knows. He came here from some little
+place back in the country several months
+ago, and went to work in the Downs &amp;
+Company shoe factory."
+</p>
+<p>
+"If that's the case, why don't you ask
+your uncle about him? He's both the
+company and the manager in the firm,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>
+isn't he? He'd know whether the fellow
+was to be trusted or not."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I intend to," was the answer; "and
+say, Billy, if you don't mind, I'll take
+that coin. Here's its equivalent."
+</p>
+<p>
+He pushed a rustling new bank-note
+toward his friend. "See me play Sherlock
+Holmes now. I always did think
+I'd make a good detective."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Look out," was the warning reply.
+"You have only a slim bit of circumstantial
+evidence, and it would be hard
+on the boy to start such a tale if there
+were no truth in it."
+</p>
+<p>
+With the coin in his pocket, Ralph
+sauntered down to his uncle's office. It
+was some time before the busy man could
+spare time to listen to him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," he said at last, looking up,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>
+pen in hand, "what can I do for you this
+morning, Ralph?" He had always
+taken a special interest in his sister's only
+son, and now smiled kindly as he approached.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, nothing, thank you, uncle. I
+just dropped in to ask you about one of
+the employees in the factory. Who is
+this Alec Stoker, and where did he come
+from?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The manager's brow contracted an instant
+in thought. The factory was a large
+one, and the roll of employees long.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Stoker! Stoker!" he repeated. Then
+his face cleared. "Ah! He is the nephew
+of the best salesman we have on the road.
+Came well recommended from a little
+town called Ridgeville, I believe. He
+seems to be a faithful, energetic boy, and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>
+has already pushed up to one promotion."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did any one recommend him besides
+his uncle?" asked Ralph, meaningly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, that was sufficient. But you evidently
+have a reason for these inquiries.
+Do you know anything about him?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, only&mdash;" he shrugged his shoulders.
+"Something happened last night
+that put me on my guard. Didn't Avery
+tell you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+At the mention of his daughter's name
+in connection with Ralph's insinuations,
+Mr. Windom was instantly alert. He
+laid down his pen. "No, tell me!" he
+demanded.
+</p>
+<p>
+In as few words as possible, Ralph told
+of the disappearance of Avery's money
+from the collection box, and the discov<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>ery
+he had made at the post-office. When
+he had finished, Mr. Windom shook his
+head gravely.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are making a very serious
+charge, Ralph," he said, "and on very
+slight provocation. At sixteen one is apt
+to jump at hasty conclusions. Take the
+advice of sober sixty, my boy. It is a
+remarkable coincidence, I admit, but
+even the common law regards a man as
+innocent until he is proved guilty, and
+surely a society that stands for all that
+the Christian Endeavour does would not
+fall below the common law in its sense
+of justice. I'm surprised that its members
+should be so quick to whisper suspicion
+and point the accusing finger."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, I'm not a member!" Ralph exclaimed,
+hastily. "I am perfectly free
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>
+to say what I think. Somehow I've never
+liked the fellow from the start. He takes
+so much on himself, and seems to want
+to push himself in where he doesn't belong."
+</p>
+<p>
+Mr. Windom, swinging round in his
+revolving chair toward his desk, picked
+up his pen again. "Stoker is all right
+so far as I know," he said. "It would be
+a very small thing to let a personal dislike
+influence you in this."
+</p>
+<p>
+He spoke sternly. Adjusting his eyeglasses,
+he pulled some papers toward
+him, and Ralph, feeling that he desired
+the conversation to close, backed out of
+the office with a hasty good day. His face
+flushed at his uncle's implied rebuke, and
+he resolved that if there was any possible
+way, he would prove that his suspicion
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>
+was right. He stopped at the post-office
+on his way home, to speak to the clerk
+again.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Billy," he said, in a confidential tone,
+"do a favour for me. Just drop a line to
+the postmaster at that address, will you,
+and ask him to tell you what he knows
+about a former resident of that place&mdash;one
+Alec Stoker? I'm hot on his track
+now, and I'm going to trace this thing
+out if it takes all the year."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Found out anything?" asked the
+clerk.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ask me later," Ralph answered, with
+a knowing look. "It's a detective's policy
+to keep mum."
+</p>
+<p>
+So the poison of suspicion began its
+work. In a few days, the answer came
+to the clerk's letter. Alec Stoker was
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>
+O. K. so far as the postmaster of Ridgeville
+knew. His grandfather had been
+one of the most highly respected citizens
+of the place, but&mdash;then followed an account
+of Alec's father. This the self-appointed
+young detective seized eagerly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Humph! Thought there was bad
+blood somewhere!" he exclaimed. He
+took the report to his uncle, who read it
+gravely, and dismissed him with a short
+lecture on the cruelty of repeating such
+stories to the intentional hurt of a fellow
+creature. Stung to anger by this additional
+reproof, Ralph was more determined
+than before to prove that his suspicions
+were correct. He carried the
+letter to the president of the society, urging
+investigation.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No!" was the determined answer;
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>
+"better lose a thousand times that amount
+than accuse him falsely. Because his
+father was dishonest is no proof that he
+is a thief. Drop it, Bently. Don't put a
+stumbling-block in the poor fellow's way
+by spreading such insinuations as that.
+He seems one of the most earnest and
+sincere members we ever had in the society."
+</p>
+<p>
+With a muttered reply about wolves in
+sheep's clothing, Ralph took his letter to
+the treasurer and secretary. Meeting the
+same response from them, he talked the
+matter over with some of the members,
+who were more willing to listen than the
+others, and less conscientious about repeating
+their surmises. So the poison
+spread and the story grew. It came to
+Alec's ears at last. There is always some
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>
+thoughtless talebearer ready to gather up
+the arrows of gossip and thrust them into
+the quivering heart of the victim.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then the matter dropped so far as
+the society was concerned. Alec simply
+stayed away. Some there were who
+never noticed his absence. Some were
+confirmed in their suspicions by it.
+Ralph Bently declared that it was proof
+enough for him that Stoker felt guilty.
+If nothing was the matter, why should
+he have dropped out so suddenly when
+he had pretended all along to be so interested
+in the services and had taken
+such an active part in them?
+</p>
+<p>
+The president, noting his absence,
+promised himself to look him up sometime,
+but such promises, never finding
+definite dates, are never fulfilled. The
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>
+member of the visiting committee who
+had called on Alec during his illness, and
+was really interested in him, started to
+call again. Something interrupted him,
+however, and he eased his conscience,
+which kept whispering that it was his
+duty to go, by sending him one of the
+printed invitations they always sent to
+strangers, cordially urging a regular attendance
+at the meetings.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then the society went selfishly on in its
+old channels, unmindful of the young life
+set adrift again in a sea of doubt and discouragement,
+with no hand held out to
+draw it back from the peril of shipwreck.
+The despairing mood that had settled
+down on Alec during the summer seized
+him again. He would work doggedly on
+during the day, thinking of Flip and his
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>
+Aunt Eunice, and feeling that for their
+sakes he must stick bravely at it. There
+was no other position open to him. But
+it was almost intolerable staying in a
+town where people not only knew of his
+father's disgrace, but pointed accusing
+fingers at him. His sensitiveness on the
+subject made him grow more and more
+morbid. He brooded over it until he
+imagined that every one who happened
+to glance steadily in his direction must
+be saying, inwardly, "Like father, like
+son."
+</p>
+<p>
+He knew that Ralph Bently had gone
+to Mr. Windom with his information.
+The talebearer had given him an exaggerated
+account of the interview. He
+felt that there was no longer any use for
+him to hope the manager would ever
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>
+raise him to the position of his trusted
+assistant, no matter how thoroughly he
+might learn the details of the business.
+For that reason he studied the newspapers
+for the advertisements of help
+wanted. He intended to make a change
+at the first opportunity.
+</p>
+<p>
+Once, crossing a street, he met the
+Windom carriage coming toward him.
+Avery, fair and gracious beside her
+mother, was bowing to an acquaintance.
+He started forward eagerly. He had
+not seen her since the last night he attended
+church, but the picture of her
+pure, sweet face, upturned like a white
+flower as she listened to the service, had
+been with him ever since. It had come
+before him many an evening when, with
+head bowed on his hands, he had leaned
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>
+over the little table in his room, gazing
+intently into vacancy; it had laid a detaining
+hand on him when he would
+have flung out of the house in his desperation,
+in search of some diversion to
+keep him from brooding over his fate.
+</p>
+<p>
+Now they were almost face to face.
+Forgetting everything but his pleasure in
+seeing her once more, and remembering
+her smiling greetings in the past, his hand
+went up involuntarily toward his hat;
+but he stopped half-way, for, turning
+toward her mother just then, she called
+her attention to something on the other
+side of the street.
+</p>
+<a name="image-0006"><!--IMG--></a>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span><br></p>
+<div class="fig">
+<img src="images/illust-145.jpg" width="420" height="561"
+alt="" title="">
+<br>
+<span class="caption">
+"HIS HAND WENT UP INVOLUNTARILY TOWARD HIS
+HAT."</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span><br>
+"Just what I might have expected!"
+muttered Alec, thinking she purposely
+avoided him. His teeth were set and his
+face white with mortification.  But in
+</p>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>
+his heart he had not expected it. He
+had taken a vague comfort in the thought
+that she would believe in his innocence,
+no matter who else doubted. She had
+insisted so kindly on his never giving the
+lost money another thought.
+</p>
+<p>
+If there had been only one accusation
+to deny, he could have gone to her with
+that, he thought. He would have compelled
+her to believe his innocence by the
+very force of his earnestness. But the
+knowledge of the accusation against his
+father silenced him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hello! You nearly knocked me
+down, Stoker. Where are you going?"
+It was one of the factory boys who asked
+the question, and Alec, hurrying down
+the street with unseeing eyes, became
+suddenly aware that he had run against
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>
+some one who had caught him by the
+arm, and was laughingly shaking him to
+make him answer. "Where are you going?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, I don't know, and I don't care,"
+was the reckless answer.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All right, come along if you want
+good company," was the joking reply,
+and the other boy, slipping his arm in
+Alec's, turned his steps to a corner where
+a jolly crowd were waiting for him to
+join them.
+</p>
+<p>
+After that there were no more lonely
+evenings for Alec, when he sat with
+bowed head beside his table, staring into
+vacancy. He should have had another
+promotion in March. Alec felt that he
+was proficient enough to be advanced,
+and he told himself bitterly that the rea<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>son
+he was not was because the manager
+mistrusted him.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was true that the manager did distrust
+him. Not on account of the suspicions
+which Ralph Bently had sowed
+broadcast, but because, made doubly
+watchful by the hint, he discovered how
+Alec was spending his evenings. Although
+the work in the factory was done
+as well as ever, he knew that no one could
+keep the company and late hours that
+Alec did and not fall short of the high
+standard he had set for the one who was
+ultimately to become his assistant.
+</p>
+<p>
+The months slipped slowly by. Philippa
+wrote that the garden was gay with
+spring crocuses and snowdrops; then that
+Ridgeville had never been such a bower
+of roses as it was that June. But to Alec
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>
+the months were marked only by his little
+winnings and little losings.
+</p>
+<p>
+There came a time in the early autumn
+when Alec crept up the creaking
+stairs to his room, haggard and pale in the
+gray light of the breaking dawn. He had
+been out all night and lost not only all the
+money he had put away in the bank, the
+savings of seven endless months, but he
+was in debt for a greater sum than all his
+next month's salary would amount to.
+</p>
+<p>
+Heavy-eyed and dizzy from the long
+hours spent in the close little gambling
+den, reeking with stifling tobacco smoke,
+Alec dragged himself to his room. After
+he had closed the door, he stood leaning
+with his back against it for a moment.
+He was facing two pictures that gazed
+at him from the mantel: One was the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>
+patient, wistful face of his Aunt Eunice;
+the other was Philippa's, looking straight
+out at him with such honest, sincere eyes,
+such eager questioning, that he could not
+meet their clear gaze. He strode across
+the room and turned both faces to the
+wall. Then, without undressing, he
+threw himself on the bed with a groan.
+</p>
+<p>
+He was late reaching the factory that
+morning, for he fell asleep at once into
+a sleep of exhaustion, so deep that the
+usual sounds did not arouse him. As it
+was his first offence, the foreman passed
+it by in silence; but, faint from lack of
+food (there had been no time for breakfast),
+worn by the excitement and high
+nervous tension of the night before, he
+was in no condition to do his work. He
+made one mistake after another, until,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>
+made more nervous by repeated accidents
+both to the material and machinery he
+was handling, he made a blunder too serious
+to pass without a report to the manager.
+It involved the loss of considerable
+money to the company.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You'll be lucky if that mistake doesn't
+give you your walking papers," said the
+foreman. "You'll hear from it at the
+end of the month."
+</p>
+<p>
+If there had been only himself to consider,
+Alec would have welcomed his dismissal,
+but there was Flip and his Aunt
+Eunice. How they believed in him!
+How proud they were of him! Not for
+worlds would he have them know how
+far he had fallen short of their ideal of
+him. So for their sakes he waited in
+feverish anxiety to know the result.
+</p>
+<a name="h2HCH0006" id="h2HCH0006"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+
+<div style="height: 4em;">&nbsp;</div>
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER VI.
+</h2>
+<p>
+It was a rainy Sunday afternoon. A
+few lumps of coal burned in the dingy
+grate in Alec's room. He had slept for
+several hours, had finished reading his
+last library book, and now, as he clasped
+his hands behind his head, yawning lazily,
+he remembered that he had not written
+home for two weeks. Letter-writing
+had become a dreaded task now. What
+was there to tell them of himself that he
+cared for them to know? Only that he
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>
+worked from seven until six, ate, slept,
+and rose to work again with the dreary
+monotony of a machine.
+</p>
+<p>
+For seven months he had not been inside
+a church door. The only people he
+met now were the workmen at the factory
+and the boys with whom he spent
+his evenings. He could not mention
+them. Long ago he had exhausted his
+descriptions of the city. There was nothing
+for him to write but that he was well
+and busy, and to fill up the pages with
+questions about the people at home. It
+taxed his ingenuity sometimes to evade
+Flip's straightforward questions, and he
+often thought that his letters had an insincere
+ring.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I wonder what they are doing at
+home now!" he exclaimed, looking
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>
+thoughtfully into the coals. "It's just
+a year ago to-day that I left. I can't
+imagine them living in the new house.
+It's always the old sitting-room I see
+when I think of them. Mack is probably
+down on the hearth-rug, popping corn or
+roasting apples, and Flip's curled up in
+the chimney-seat, telling him stories.
+And Aunt Eunice&mdash;I know what she's
+doing; what she always does Sunday
+evening just at this time, when the twilight
+begins to fall. She has gone into
+her room and shut the door and knelt
+down by the big red rocking-chair that
+we used to be rocked to sleep in. And
+she's praying for us this very minute, and
+doesn't know that the dust is half an inch
+thick on my Bible, and that a prayer
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>
+hasn't passed my lips since last February.
+Dear old Aunt Eunice!"
+</p>
+<p>
+An ache clutched his throat as he
+thought of her, and a tender mood, such
+as he had not known for weeks, rushed
+warm across him. One after another the
+old scenes rose up before him, until an
+overwhelming longing to see the well-known
+faces made the homesick tears
+start to his eyes.
+</p>
+<p>
+The twilight shadows deepened in the
+room, but, lost in the rush of tender memories,
+he forgot everything save the pictures
+that seemed to rise before him out
+of the glowing embers in the grate. In
+the midst of his reverie, there was a noise
+on the stairs&mdash;a familiar noise, although
+he had not heard it for months, a tread
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>
+and a double tap, as if a foot and two
+canes were coming up the steps.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Old Jimmy Scott!" thought Alec,
+looking round as if awakening from a
+dream and discovering that the room was
+nearly dark; he stirred the fire until it
+burst into cheerful flames.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well!" he exclaimed, cordially,
+throwing open the door in answer to
+old Jimmy's knock, "of all people! Did
+you rain down? Here I sat in the
+dumps, feeling that I hadn't a friend in
+the town. Come in! Come in!"
+</p>
+<p>
+He pulled a chair hospitably toward
+the grate for his guest, and put another
+lump of coal on the fire.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Knew you'd be surprised to see me
+a day like this," said the old soldier,
+thrusting his foot toward the blaze;
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>
+but I've been intending to look you
+up for some time. Kind o' had a drawing
+in this direction. Thinks I, when I
+felt it, wonder if he's sick and needs me.
+When I have feelings like that, I usually
+pay attention to 'em."
+</p>
+<p>
+They talked of various things for the
+next quarter of an hour; of the weather,
+the new city hall, the approaching elections;
+but they were both ill at ease. It
+seemed to Alec that the old man's heart
+was not in the conversation; that he was
+only trying to pave the way to some other
+topic. Finally a pause fell between them.
+Alec rose to put another lump of coal on
+the fire, and old Jimmy, looking round
+the room, noticed the two photographs
+on the mantel with their faces turned to
+the wall. He knew well enough whose
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>
+pictures they were. During Alec's convalescence
+he had studied them many a
+time while he listened to the homesick
+boy's enthusiastic description of his sister
+and the aunt who had been like a
+mother to him.
+</p>
+<p>
+As Alec took his chair again, he saw
+the old man's surprised glance at the pictures.
+Then their eyes met. Alec flushed
+guiltily.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Something's wrong, boy," said old
+Jimmy, tenderly. "I knew it. That's
+why I felt moved to come. Seemed as
+if the Lord put it in my heart that I must.
+There's special services going on at Grace
+Church this week. Something in the
+evangelist's sermon this morning made
+me feel that I'd got to speak to somebody
+before nightfall&mdash;stir up somebody to
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>
+a better life&mdash;or I'd be held accountable.
+Then all of a sudden I began to
+think of you, so I came up to ask if you
+wouldn't go to hear him to-night. But
+I see now that it's more than an invitation
+to church you need. You're in trouble,
+or you never would have done that."
+He nodded toward the pictures. "What
+is it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Alec hesitated a minute, and old
+Jimmy, reaching over, laid a sympathetic
+hand on his shoulder. Something in the
+friendly touch brought a swift rush of
+tears to Alec's eyes. He was so homesick
+and lonely, and it seemed so good to have
+some one to talk with who was really interested
+in him. Dropping his face in his
+hands and leaning forward with his elbows
+on his knees, he blurted out his
+trouble in broken sentences.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span><br>
+</p>
+<a name="image-0007"><!--IMG--></a>
+
+<div class="fig">
+<img src="images/illust-161.jpg" width="450" height="544"
+alt="" title="">
+<br>
+<span class="caption">"HE BLURTED OUT HIS TROUBLE IN BROKEN
+SENTENCES."</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span><br>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>
+He told the whole story, beginning
+with the missing coin; Ralph Bently's
+insinuations and subsequent endeavour
+to fasten suspicion on him; the disclosure
+of his father's disgrace; the gossip
+that had caused him to drop out of the
+society and church, where he felt that he
+was no longer wanted. Finally the habits
+he had fallen into, and the money he had
+lost, and the foreman's prophecy of his
+discharge from the factory at the end
+of the month.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I tried to do right," he said in conclusion.
+"I had tried all my life. I
+joined the church when I was no older
+than Mack, and I lived just as straight
+as I knew how. But after that&mdash;when
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>
+every one cut me&mdash;it didn't seem as if
+it was any use. I just lost faith in everything
+and gave up trying. I used to believe
+in Aunt Eunice's idea of the eternal
+goodness. It made me feel so safe, somehow,
+to think that, no matter what happened,
+we could never&mdash;
+</p>
+<div class='poem'>
+"'Drift beyond His love and care.'<br>
+</div>
+<p>
+That He had set islands for us to come
+across at every turn. You know. You
+remember that little map I made when I
+was getting well. One of the islands was
+named for you, and one was the Isle of
+Roses, because those flowers the Christian
+Endeavour society sent seemed to
+put new courage into me, and led to the
+acquaintances and friendships that helped
+me so much while I had them.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But I've lost that feeling now. I'm
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span>
+cut loose from everything, and you don't
+know how terribly adrift I feel. I'm just
+whirled along from day to day, till I've
+almost come to the place it tells about
+in Job, where there's nothing left to do
+but 'curse God and die.'"
+</p>
+<p>
+As he paused, old Jimmy's voice broke
+in with hearty cheerfulness, "Why, bless
+you, my boy, you're all in a fog. And
+do you know the reason? You haven't
+the right Pilot aboard any more.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The 'islands' are all round you, just
+the same, put there on purpose for you,
+but you let the devil get his hand at the
+wheel, and he keeps you steered away
+from 'em. You say you stopped praying?
+That very moment he got aboard and
+took possession. You quit trusting the
+Lord the instant you got into deep water.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>
+</p>
+<p>
+"You made a mistake when you let
+anybody's gossip run you out of the
+church or the society. You ought to have
+stayed and lived it down! That's the
+only thing for you to do now; go back
+and begin again and make people believe
+in your innocence. It will be hard for
+you, and powerfully awkward, for you
+have more than your share of pride and
+sensitiveness, but it's the only manly thing
+to do."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, I <i>couldn't</i> go back!" groaned
+Alec. "I believe I'd rather die first.
+If it had only been what they said about
+me, I might have done it, but I couldn't
+face what they'd continually be thinking
+about my father. I could never live that
+down."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, you can! If you'll only put
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>
+yourself entirely in the Lord's hands,
+He'll furnish the strength for you to do
+whatever is right. You've come to a
+crisis, Alec Stoker. You've got to fight
+it out right now, which is to have control
+of the rest of your life, God or the devil."
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a long silence. Presently,
+in a voice choked with emotion, the old
+man said, "Kneel down, son; I want to
+pray with you." Together they knelt in
+the darkening room.
+</p>
+<p>
+For a long time after old Jimmy took
+his leave, Alec sat gazing into the flickering
+fire, as the room grew dimmer and
+dimmer. Then, urged on by some impulse
+almost beyond his control, he
+slipped on his overcoat and hurried out
+into the street. When he reached the
+vestibule at the side door of the church,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>
+he stood a moment with his hand on the
+latch. His courage had suddenly failed
+him. He would go back home and wait
+until another time, he told himself. The
+service must be nearly over.
+</p>
+<p>
+But just then some one struck a few
+soft chords on the piano, and a full, clear
+voice began to sing. It was Avery's
+voice, and she sang with all the pleading
+earnestness of a prayer:
+</p>
+<div class='poem'>
+"Jesus, Saviour, pilot me<br>
+<span style="margin-left: 0.4em;">Over life's tempestuous sea!</span><br>
+<span style="margin-left: 0.4em;">Unknown waves before me roll,</span><br>
+<span style="margin-left: 0.4em;">Hiding rock and treacherous shoal;</span><br>
+<span style="margin-left: 0.4em;">Chart and compass come from thee:</span><br>
+<span style="margin-left: 0.4em;">Jesus, Saviour, pilot me."</span><br>
+</div>
+<p>
+Out in the darkness, the storm-tossed,
+homesick boy stood listening, till his
+whole soul seemed to go out in that one
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span>
+cry, "Jesus, Saviour, pilot me!" It was
+a complete surrender of self, and as he
+whispered the words a peace that he had
+never known before, a great peace he
+could not understand, seemed to fold him
+safe in its keeping.
+</p>
+<p>
+As the last words of the song died
+away, he opened the door and walked in.
+If there was surprise on the faces of
+many, he did not see it. If it was a departure
+from the usual custom, he never
+stopped to consider it. The evangelist
+who had charge of the service stood for a
+final word of exhortation, asking if there
+were not many who could make that song
+their own, and offer it as a prayer of consecration.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was never quite clear to Alec afterward
+just what he said then. But as he
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>
+told of the struggle he had just been
+through, and in broken sentences made a
+public confession of his faith, eyes grew
+dim, and hearts already touched by the
+song were strangely thrilled and stirred.
+Afterward the members came crowding
+round him with a warm welcome, and he
+carried away with him the remembrance
+of many a hearty hand-clasp. One of
+them was Mr. Windom's. He rarely attended
+the young people's meetings, and
+to-night had come only to hear his daughter
+sing. If he had had any misgivings
+as to the boy's sincerity of purpose before,
+every doubt was cleared away as he
+listened to his manly confession of faith,
+and looked into his happy face, almost
+transformed with the hope that illuminated
+it.
+</p>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span>
+It was Thanksgiving Day. Alec, home
+on his first vacation, stood in front of the
+open fire, watching Philippa set the table
+for their little feast. He had talked late
+the night before, and told of the many
+changes that had taken place during the
+last two months. He was in the office
+now, and his salary had been raised sufficiently
+to enable him to take a room in
+a comfortable boarding-house. Since his
+conversion, Mr. Windom had taken several
+occasions to show Alec that he
+trusted him implicitly.
+</p>
+<p>
+Radiant in her joy at having her
+brother home again, Philippa kept breaking
+into little snatches of song whenever
+there was a pause in the conversation.
+She thought she had never known such
+a happy Thanksgiving.
+</p>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>
+"How nice and homelike it all is!"
+Alec exclaimed, sniffing the savoury
+odours that rushed in from the kitchen,
+of turkey and mince turnovers, whenever
+Aunt Eunice opened the oven door.
+"And how good it seems to hear you
+singing like that, Flip!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you remember the day you told
+me that it set your teeth on edge to hear
+me singing that hymn?" asked Philippa,
+laughingly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, but that was because I was all
+out of tune myself. Everything is different
+now. Since I've given up trying to
+do my own piloting, it seems to me that
+I come across one of His 'islands' nearly
+every day." As he spoke, Macklin came
+running up on the porch, stamping the
+snow from his feet, and burst into the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>
+house, his cheeks as red as winter
+apples.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Here's a letter for you, Alec!" he
+cried. "Where's my hammer, Flip? I
+want to crack some of those nuts we gathered
+on purpose for to-day."
+</p>
+<p>
+She brought him the hammer, and
+he hurried away. Alec was turning
+the dainty blue envelope over in his
+hands.
+</p>
+<p>
+The address was written in the same
+hand as the card which had come nearly
+a year ago with the Christian Endeavour
+roses. He tore open the envelope,
+glanced at the monogram, then down the
+page, and turned to Philippa with a
+long-drawn whistle. "I wish you'd
+listen to this!" he exclaimed.
+</p>
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>
+"<span class="smcap">Dear Mr. Stoker</span>:&mdash;I am writing
+this in the hope that it will reach you on
+Thanksgiving Day. You have suffered
+so much on account of that miserable
+gold piece of mine, it is only fair that you
+should have this explanation at once.
+</p>
+<p>
+"This afternoon Miss Cornish and I
+went to the church to practise a new song
+that I am to sing at the Thanksgiving
+service. She was to play my accompaniments.
+The side door of the church was
+open, for the florist was decorating the
+altar, so we did not need to use the minister's
+latch-key, which we had borrowed
+for the occasion. We practised for some
+time, and then sat and talked until it
+was almost dark. When we started home,
+we found to our dismay that the janitor,
+thinking we had gone, had double-locked
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>
+the door for the night with his big key.
+Our little latch-key was then of no use.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We called and pounded until we
+were desperate. I had an engagement
+for dinner, and could not afford to lose
+any time. Finally we went into the
+prayer-meeting room, and found that we
+could open one of the panes in the great
+stained-glass window at the side. Miss
+Cornish climbed up on one of those old
+pulpit chairs that the officers use, and
+said that if she could lean out through
+the pane, she would call to the first one
+who passed, and ask him to bring the janitor
+to our release.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But some way, in climbing, Miss Cornish
+caught her high heel in the plush
+with which the seat is upholstered. The
+goods is frayed and old. The chair
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>
+tipped, and they both came to the floor
+with a bang. Just as I sprang to catch
+her, something bright and round rolled
+out of the chair toward me and dropped
+right at my feet.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It was that unlucky gold coin, which
+must have slipped under the plush in
+some way when you counted the money
+on it that night.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It was so late when we were finally
+rescued that I could not keep my dinner
+engagement. I am glad for one reason;
+it gives me time to write this now. I
+know that it will make your Thanksgiving
+brighter to know this, and I am sure
+that it is needless for me to say that I
+never for an instant connected the disappearance
+of the coin with you in any way.
+I regret extremely the silly gossip that
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>
+wounded you so sorely, and want to tell
+you how much I respect the manly way
+in which you have since met and answered
+it.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Wishing you a happy Thanksgiving
+with your family, I am
+</p>
+<div class='right'>
+<span style="margin-right: 4em;">"Sincerely your friend,</span><br>
+"<span class="smcap">Avery Windom</span>."<br>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<a name="image-0008"><!--IMG--></a>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span><br></p>
+<div class="fig">
+<img src="images/illust-177.jpg" width="486" height="561"
+alt="" title="">
+<br>
+<span class="caption">&quot;IT WAS THAT UNLUCKY GOLD COIN.&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span><br>
+Philippa, watching his face as he read,
+came up to him when he had finished,
+and put a hand on each shoulder.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Alec," she said, with the straightforwardness
+of sixteen, "that means a lot to
+you, doesn't it, that she should write that
+she is 'sincerely your friend'?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," he answered, honestly; "a very
+great deal."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you suppose it would stand in the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span>
+way, sometime, when you are older, you
+know, and have made a place for yourself
+in the world, her knowing about&mdash;about
+father?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know, Flip," he answered,
+slowly; "I've often wondered about
+that."
+</p>
+<p>
+Through the open door came Aunt
+Eunice's voice, singing jubilantly:
+</p>
+<div class='poem'>
+"I know not what the future hath<br>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">  Of marvel or surprise,</span><br>
+<span style="margin-left: 0.4em;">Assured alone that life and death</span><br>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">  His mercy underlies."</span><br>
+</div>
+<p>
+"How that old hymn answers everything!"
+Alec said, softly. "No matter
+what lies ahead, it's all right now. God's
+at the helm, little sister! I shall find all
+the 'islands' he has set for me."
+</p>
+<center>
+THE END.
+</center>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Flip's "Islands of Providence", by 
+Annie Fellows Johnston
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+</body>
+</html>
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+Project Gutenberg's Flip's "Islands of Providence", by Annie Fellows Johnston
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Flip's "Islands of Providence"
+
+Author: Annie Fellows Johnston
+
+Illustrator: E. F. Bonsall
+
+Release Date: July 6, 2008 [EBook #25978]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FLIP'S "ISLANDS OF PROVIDENCE" ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Garcia, Dr. Graeme M. Handisides and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+(This file was produced from images generously made
+available by The Kentuckiana Digital Library)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                               FLIP'S
+
+                              "ISLANDS
+                                 OF
+                             PROVIDENCE"
+
+                       ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON
+
+                         COSY CORNER SERIES
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+                         FLIP'S "ISLANDS OF
+                             PROVIDENCE"
+
+                              Works of
+
+                       Annie Fellows Johnston
+
+
+                     =The Little Colonel Series=
+
+                 (_Trade Mark, Reg. U. S. Pat. Of._)
+            Each one vol., large 12mo, cloth, illustrated
+
+  The Little Colonel Stories                               $1.50
+      (Containing in one volume the three stories, "The
+      Little Colonel," "The Giant Scissors," and
+      "Two Little Knights of Kentucky.")
+  The Little Colonel's House Party                          1.50
+  The Little Colonel's Holidays                             1.50
+  The Little Colonel's Hero                                 1.50
+  The Little Colonel at Boarding-School                     1.50
+  The Little Colonel in Arizona                             1.50
+  The Little Colonel's Christmas Vacation                   1.50
+  The Little Colonel: Maid of Honor                         1.50
+      The above 8 vols., _boxed_                           12.00
+
+
+                    Illustrated Holiday Editions
+
+    Each one vol., small quarto, cloth, illustrated, and printed
+                              in color
+
+  The Little Colonel                                       $1.25
+  The Giant Scissors                                        1.25
+  Two Little Knights of Kentucky                            1.25
+      The above 3 vols., _boxed_                            3.75
+
+
+                         Cosy Corner Series
+
+            Each one vol., thin 12mo. cloth, illustrated
+
+  The Little Colonel                                        $.50
+  The Giant Scissors                                         .50
+  Two Little Knights of Kentucky                             .50
+  Big Brother                                                .50
+  Ole Mammy's Torment                                        .50
+  The Story of Dago                                          .50
+  Cicely                                                     .50
+  Aunt 'Liza's Hero                                          .50
+  The Quilt that Jack Built                                  .50
+  Flip's "Islands of Providence"                             .50
+  Mildred's Inheritance                                      .50
+
+
+                             Other Books
+
+  Joel: A Boy of Galilee                                   $1.50
+  In the Desert of Waiting                                   .50
+  The Three Weavers                                          .50
+  Keeping Tryst                                              .50
+  Asa Holmes                                                1.00
+  Songs Ysame (Poems, with Allison Fellows Bacon)           1.00
+
+
+                        L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
+     200 Summer Street                          Boston, Mass.
+
+
+[Illustration: "'ALEC,' HE SAID, PAUSING IN THE DOORWAY, 'WHAT'S A
+GREEN GOODS MAN?'" (_See page 75_)]
+
+
+
+
+                         Cosy Corner Series
+
+
+                           FLIP'S "ISLANDS
+                           OF PROVIDENCE"
+
+                                 By
+
+                       Annie Fellows Johnston
+
+        Author of "Asa Holmes," "The Little Colonel Stories,"
+                         "Big Brother," etc.
+
+                          _Illustrated by_
+                            E. F. Bonsall
+
+
+                 "_I know not where His islands lift
+                    Their fronded palms in air;_"
+                                         --_Whittier_
+
+
+                        _Boston_
+                        _L.C. Page & Company_
+                                  _Publishers_
+
+
+
+
+                          _Copyright, 1902_
+              BY THE TRUSTEES OF THE PRESBYTERIAN BOARD
+                OF PUBLICATION AND SABBATH-SCHOOL WORK
+
+                          _Copyright, 1903_
+                       By L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
+                            (INCORPORATED)
+                        _All rights reserved_
+
+
+                       Published August, 1903
+
+                 _Fourth Impression, February, 1907_
+
+
+                          _Colonial Press_
+           Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co.
+                       Boston, Mass., U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+                        LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+                                                         PAGE
+
+  "'ALEC,' HE SAID, PAUSING IN THE DOORWAY,
+       'WHAT'S A GREEN GOODS MAN?'" (_See page 75_)
+                                               _Frontispiece_
+
+  "'YOU'RE BOUND TO HEAR IT SOMETIME'"                     19
+
+  "'THE LORD HAS CERTAINLY SENT YOU,
+        DICK'"                                             57
+
+  "HE MADE SEVERAL RAPID CALCULATIONS ON
+        THE BACK OF THE ENVELOPE"                         109
+
+  "'IT'S THE FIRST MONEY I EVER EARNED IN
+        MY LIFE,' SHE SAID, GLEEFULLY"                    117
+
+  "HIS HAND WENT UP INVOLUNTARILY TOWARD
+        HIS HAT"                                          145
+
+  "HE BLURTED OUT HIS TROUBLE IN BROKEN
+        SENTENCES"                                        161
+
+  "'IT WAS THAT UNLUCKY GOLD COIN'"                       177
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+                         FLIP'S "ISLANDS OF
+                             PROVIDENCE"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+Carefully locking the door of his little gable bedroom, Alec Stoker
+put down the cup of hot water he carried, and peered into the mirror
+above his wash-stand. Then, although he had come up-stairs fully
+determined to attempt his first shave, he stood irresolute, stroking
+the almost imperceptible down on his boyish lip and chin.
+
+"It does make me look older, that's a fact," he muttered to his
+reflection in the glass. "Maybe I'd better not cut it off until I've
+had my interview with the agent. The older I look, the more likely
+he'll be to trust me with a responsible position. Still," he
+continued, surveying himself critically, "I might make a more
+favourable impression if I had that 'well-groomed' look the papers
+lay so much stress on nowadays, and I could mention in a careless,
+offhand way something about having just shaved."
+
+It was not yet dark out-of-doors, but after a few minutes of further
+deliberation, Alec pulled down the blind over his window and lighted
+the lamp. Then, opening a box that he took from his bureau, he drew
+out his Grandfather Macklin's razor and ivory-handled shaving-brush.
+
+"I'm sure the old gentleman never dreamed, when they made me his
+namesake, that this was all of his property I would fall heir to," he
+thought, bitterly.
+
+The moody expression that settled on his face at the thought had
+become almost habitual in the last four weeks. The happy-go-lucky boy
+of seventeen seemed to have changed in that time to a morose man.
+June had left him the jolliest boy in the high school graduating
+class. September found him a morbid cynic.
+
+It had been nine years since his mother, just before her death, had
+brought him back to the old home for her sister Eunice to take care
+of--Alec and the little five-year-old Philippa and the baby Macklin.
+Their Aunt Eunice had made a happy home for them, and although she
+rarely laughed herself, and her hair had whitened long before its
+time, she had allowed no part of her burdens to touch their
+thoughtless young lives. It was only lately that Alec had been
+aroused to the fact that she had any burdens. He was rehearsing them
+all now, as he rubbed the lather over his chin, so busily that he did
+not hear Philippa's light step on the back stairs. Philippa could
+step very lightly when she chose, despite the fact that she was long
+and awkward, with that temporary awkwardness of a growing girl who
+finds it hard to adjust herself and her skirts to her constantly
+increasing height.
+
+Alec almost dropped his brush as she suddenly banged on his door. "Is
+that you, Flip?" he called, although he knew no one but Philippa ever
+beat such thundering tattoos on his door.
+
+"Yes! Let me in! I want to ask you something."
+
+He knew just how her sharp gray eyes would scan him, and he hesitated
+an instant, divided between a desire to let her see him in the manly
+act of shaving himself and the certain knowledge that she would tease
+him if he did.
+
+Finally he threw open the door and turned to the glass in his most
+indifferent manner, as if it were an every-day occurrence with him.
+"Come in," he said; "I'm only shaving. I'm going out this evening."
+
+If he had thought she would be impressed by his lordly air, he was
+mistaken, for, after one prolonged stare, she threw herself on the
+bed, shrieking with laughter. Long practice in bandying words with
+her brother had made her an expert tease. Usually they both enjoyed
+such combats, but now, to her surprise, he seemed indifferent to her
+most provoking comments, and scraped away at his chin in dignified
+silence.
+
+"I believe you said you had something to say to me, Philippa," he
+said presently, in a stern tone that made her stare. Never, except
+when he was very angry, did he call her anything but Flip.
+
+Suddenly sobered, she took her face out of the pillows and peered at
+him curiously, twisting one of the long plaits of hair that hung over
+her shoulder.
+
+"I have," she said. "I want to know what's the matter with you. What
+has come over you lately? You've been as sullen as a brown bear for
+days and days. I asked Aunt Eunice just now, while we were washing
+the supper dishes, what had changed you so. You used to be whistling
+and joking whenever you came near the house. Now you never open your
+lips except to make some sarcastic speech.
+
+"She said that it was probably because you were so disappointed
+about not getting that position in the bank that you had set your
+heart on, and she was afraid that you were growing discouraged
+about ever finding any position worth while in this sleepy little
+village. She didn't know that I saw it, but while she was talking
+a tear splashed right down in the dish-water, and I made up my mind
+that it must be something lots worse than just plain disappointment
+or discouragement, and that I was going to ask you. Now, you needn't
+snap your mouth shut that way, like a clam. You've got to tell me!"
+
+"Aunt Eunice doesn't want you to know," he said, turning away from
+the glass, razor in hand, to look at her intently. "But you're a big
+girl, Flip--nearly as tall as she is, if you are only fifteen. You're
+bound to hear it sometime, and in my opinion it would be better for
+you to hear it from me than to have it knock you flat coming
+unexpectedly from a stranger, as I heard it."
+
+[Illustration: "'YOU'RE BOUND TO HEAR IT SOMETIME.'"]
+
+"Tell me," she urged, her curiosity aroused.
+
+"Can you stand a pretty tough knock?"
+
+"As well as you," she answered, meeting his gaze steadily, yet with a
+queer kind of chill creeping over her at his mysterious manner.
+
+"Well, what do you suppose you and Mack and I have been living on all
+these years that we have been living with Aunt Eunice?"
+
+"Why--I--I don't know! Mother's share of Grandfather Macklin's
+property, I suppose. He divided it equally between her and Aunt
+Eunice."
+
+"Well, we just haven't!" Alec exclaimed. "That was spent before we
+came here, and nearly all of Aunt Eunice's share, too. She's been
+drawing right out of the principal the last two years so that she
+could keep us in school, and there's hardly anything left but this
+old house and the ground it stands on. She never told me until this
+summer. That's why I took the first job that offered, and drove
+Murray's delivery wagon till the regular driver was well. It wasn't
+particularly good pay, but it paid for my board and kept me from
+feeling that I was a burden on Aunt Eunice.
+
+"I was sure of getting that position in the bank. One of the
+directors had as good as promised it to me. While it wouldn't have
+paid much at first, it would have been an entering wedge, and have
+put me in the direct line of promotion. And you know that from the
+time I was Macklin's age it has been my ambition to be a banker like
+grandfather. Since I failed to get that, nobody, not even Aunt
+Eunice, knows how hard I've tried to get into some steady,
+good-paying job. I've been to every business man in the village, and
+done everything a fellow could do, seems to me, but in a little place
+like this there's absolutely no opening unless somebody dies. The
+good places are already filled by reliable, middle-aged men who have
+grown up in them. There's no use trying any longer. Every time I get
+my hopes up it's only to have them dashed to pieces--shipwrecked, you
+might say."
+
+He paused a minute, ostensibly to give his chin a fresh coating of
+lather, but in reality to gather courage for the words he found so
+difficult to say. In the silence, Macklin's voice came floating up to
+them from the porch below. Sitting on the steps in the twilight, with
+his bare feet doubled under him, he was reciting something to his
+Aunt Eunice in a high, sturdy voice. It came in shrilly through the
+open window of Alec's room, where the brown shade and overhanging
+muslin curtains flapped back and forth in the evening breeze.
+
+Philippa smiled as she listened. He was reciting a poem that Aunt
+Eunice had taught each of them in turn, after the Creed and the
+Commandments and the Catechism. It was Whittier's hymn--"The Eternal
+Goodness." She had paid them a penny a stanza for learning it, and as
+there are twenty-two stanzas in all, Philippa remembered how rich she
+felt the day she dropped the last copper down the chimney of her
+little red savings-bank.
+
+It had been seven years since Alec learned it, but the words were as
+familiar still as the letters of the alphabet. As Macklin's
+high-pitched voice reached them, Philippa joined in in a singsong
+undertone, and even Alec found himself unconsciously following the
+well-remembered lines in his thought:
+
+                 "I know not where His islands lift
+                    Their fronded palms in air;
+                  I only know I cannot drift
+                    Beyond His love and care."
+
+"There!" said Philippa, stopping abruptly, "you were talking about
+shipwrecks. According to that hymn, there's always some island ready
+for you to be washed up on. How do you know but that you're going to
+land some place where you'll be lots better off than if you'd stayed
+here in Ridgeville?"
+
+There was a contemptuous sneer on Alec's face, not pleasant to see,
+as he answered, roughly: "Bosh! That's all right for people who can
+believe in such things, but I'm past such Robinson Crusoe fables."
+
+"Why, Alec Stoker!" she cried, in amazement, "do you mean to say that
+you don't believe in Providence any more?" There was a look of horror
+on her face.
+
+He shrugged his shoulders. "I've come to think it's a case of every
+fellow for himself; sink or swim--and if you're not strong enough to
+push to shore, it's drown and leave more room for the rest."
+
+"Alec Mack--lin Sto--ker!" was all that Philippa could find breath to
+say at first. Presently she exclaimed, "I should think you'd be
+ashamed to talk so! Any boy that had such a grand old grandfather as
+you! He didn't have any better chance than you in the beginning, and
+had to struggle along for years. Look what a place he made for
+himself in the world!"
+
+"That's all you know about it!" cried Alec, his hand trembling with
+an emotion he was trying hard to control. In that instant the razor
+slipped, slightly cutting his chin.
+
+"Now!" he muttered, hastily tearing a bit of paper from the margin of
+a newspaper to stop the blood, and then rummaging in the wash-stand
+drawer for a piece of court-plaster. He was a long time adjusting it
+to his satisfaction, for the words he wanted to say would not take
+shape. He knew what he had to tell her would wound deeply, and he
+hesitated to begin. When he faced her again, his voice trembled with
+suppressed excitement. He spoke rapidly:
+
+"I may as well out with it. You want to know why I didn't get that
+position in the bank? It is because my father, J. Stillwell Stoker,
+died behind the bars of a penitentiary! I'm the son of a jailbird--a
+defaulter and a forger! That's why the bank didn't want me. They'd
+had their fingers burned with him, and didn't want to risk another of
+that name. Thought there might be something in the blood, I suppose.
+That's where all grandfather's property went, to pay it back; all but
+this house and the little Aunt Eunice kept for our support. And
+that's why mother came back here with us and died of a broken heart!
+Now do you wonder that I can't believe in the eternal goodness when
+it starts me out in life handicapped like that? Do you blame me when
+I say I am going to get out of this town and go away to some place
+where I'll not have my father's disgrace thrown in my teeth every
+time I try to do anything worth while? No wonder I'm moody! No wonder
+I'm a pessimist when I think of the legacy he's saddled us with! Aunt
+Eunice thought she could always shield us from the knowledge of it,
+but she could no more do it than she could hide fire!"
+
+Philippa sat on the bed as if stunned by the words flowing in such a
+vehement rush from her brother's lips. She was white and trembled. "O
+Alec," she gasped, with a shudder, "it can't be true!" Then, after a
+distressing silence, she sobbed, "Does everybody know it?"
+
+"Everybody in the village now, but little Mack, and he'll have to be
+knocked flat with the fact some day, I suppose, just as we have
+been."
+
+Philippa shivered and drew herself up into a disconsolate bunch
+against the foot-board. "To think of the way I've prided myself on
+our family!" she said, in a husky voice. "I've actually bragged of
+the Macklins and paraded the virtues of my ancestors."
+
+Alec made no answer. Down-stairs the big kitchen clock slowly struck
+seven.
+
+"I'll have to hurry," he remarked. Catching up his blacking-brush, he
+began polishing his shoes in nervous haste. "It's later than I
+thought. I'm due at the hotel in thirty minutes."
+
+"At the hotel!" repeated Philippa, wondering dully how he could take
+any interest in anything more in life, knowing all that had blighted
+their young lives.
+
+"Yes; but don't you tell Aunt Eunice until it's all settled. I
+promised to meet a man there, who's been talking to me about a
+position a thousand miles from here. He's interested in a
+manufacturing business. His firm has a scheme for making money hand
+over fist. He didn't tell me what it is, but he wants some young
+fellow about my age to go into it. 'Somebody who can keep his mouth
+shut,' he said, 'write a good letter, and make a favourable
+impression on strangers in introducing the goods.' Stumpy Fisher
+introduced me to him last night, and he gave me a hint of what he
+might do if I suited. Seemed to think I was just the man for the
+place. There's another fellow after it, but he thought I'd make a
+better impression on strangers, and that is a great consideration in
+their business. We're to settle it this evening, as he has to leave
+on the nine o'clock train. If we come to terms, he'll want me to
+follow next week."
+
+"Stumpy Fisher introduced you?" repeated Philippa; "why, he--he's the
+man that runs the Golconda, isn't he?"
+
+"Yes," admitted Alec, inwardly resenting the disapproval in her tone.
+"They do gamble in there, I know, and sometimes have a pretty tough
+row, but Stumpy is as kind-hearted a man as there is in the village."
+
+Throwing the blacking-brush hastily back into its box, Alec
+straightened himself up and faced his sister, "There, skip along now,
+Flip, like a good girl. I have to dress. And don't say a word to Aunt
+Eunice. I'll tell her myself."
+
+Philippa rose slowly from the bed and started toward the door. "I
+feel as if I were in a horrible nightmare," she said. "What you have
+just told me about our--him, you know, and then your going away to
+live. It's all so sudden and so dreadful. O Alec, I can't stand it to
+have you go!"
+
+To his great surprise and confusion, for Philippa had never been
+demonstrative in her affection, she threw her arms round his neck,
+and, dropping her head on his shoulder, began sobbing violently.
+
+"Oh, come now, Flip," he protested, awkwardly patting the heavy
+braids of hair swung over her shoulder; "I wouldn't have told you if
+I'd thought you'd take it so. I thought you had so much grit that
+you'd stand by me and back me up if Aunt Eunice objected. We're not
+going to be separated for ever. From what the man told me of the
+business, I'm sure that I can make enough in a year or so to send for
+you. Then you can come and keep house for me, and we'll pay back
+every cent we've cost Aunt Eunice, so she'll have something in her
+old age. Oh, stop crying, like a good girl, Flip! Don't make it any
+harder for me than it already is. You don't want me to be late, do
+you, and miss the best chance of my life? Punctuality counts for
+everything when a man's looking for a reliable employee."
+
+Without a word, but still sobbing, Philippa rushed from the room. He
+heard her going down the back stairs and across the kitchen. When the
+outer door closed behind her, he knew as well as if he had seen her
+that she was running down the orchard path to her old refuge in the
+June-apple-tree.
+
+"The stars ought to be out now," thought Alec, a few minutes later,
+as he slipped into his best coat. Pulling up the shade, he peered out
+through the open window. "There'll not be any to-night," he added;
+"looks as if it would rain."
+
+The wind was rising. It blew the muslin curtains softly across his
+face. It had driven Miss Eunice and Macklin from the porch. Alec
+could hear their voices in the sitting-room. Suddenly another puff of
+wind blew the hall door shut, and the cheerful sound was lost.
+
+"It's certainly going to storm!" he exclaimed, aloud. Raising his
+lamp for one more scrutiny of himself in the little mirror, he set it
+on his desk, while he hunted in the closet for an umbrella.
+
+When he reached the hotel, it was in the deepest voice that he could
+summon that he asked to be shown to Mr. Humphrey Long's room. Then he
+blushed, startled by its unfamiliar sound; it was so deep.
+
+Mr. Long was busy, he was told. He had been closeted in his room for
+an hour with a stranger who had taken supper with him, and had left
+orders that Alec, if he came, was not to be shown up till the other
+man had gone.
+
+Alec wandered from the office into the parlour, walking round
+nervously while he waited. Half an hour went by. He watched the clock
+anxiously, than desperately. The minutes were slipping by so fast
+that he was afraid there would be no time for his turn before the bus
+started to the train. What if the other man should be taken in his
+stead after all Mr. Long's fair speeches! The thought made him break
+into a cold perspiration. He drummed nervously on the table beside
+him with impatient fingers.
+
+Presently, through his absorption, came the consciousness that the
+bell in the town hall was clanging the fire alarm. It was an unusual
+sound in the quiet little village. Noisy shouts in the next street
+proclaimed that the volunteer fire brigade was dragging out the
+hand-power engine and hose reel. From all directions came the sound
+of hurrying feet and the cry of "Fire! fire!"
+
+He rushed to the door and looked out. Half a mile toward the north,
+he judged the distance to be, an angry glow was spreading upward. It
+was in the direction of his home.
+
+"Where's the fire, Bob?" called a voice across the street.
+
+"The old Macklin house," was the answer, tossed back over a man's
+shoulder as he ran. Instantly there flashed into Alec's mind the
+remembrance of the muslin curtains flapping across his face, and the
+lamp left near them on his desk. Had he blown it out or not? He could
+not remember. He tried to think as he dashed up the street after the
+running crowds.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+There was no faster runner in the village than Alec Stoker. In the
+last two field-day contests he had carried off the honours, and now
+he surpassed all previous records in that mad dash from the hotel to
+the burning house.
+
+Swift as he was, however, the flames were bursting from the windows
+of his room by the time he reached the gate, and curling up over the
+eaves with long, licking tongues. It was as he had feared. He had
+forgotten to put out the light, the curtains had blown over it, and,
+fanned by the rising wind, the fire had leaped from curtain to bed,
+from mosquito-bar to wall, until the whole room was in a blaze.
+
+Shielded by the tall cedars in front of the house, it had burned some
+time before a passing neighbour discovered it. By the time the alarm
+brought any response, the upper story was full of stifling pine
+smoke. The yard swarmed with neighbours when Alec reached it. In and
+out they ran, bumping precious old family portraits against wash-tubs
+and coal-scuttles, emptying bureau drawers into sheets, and dumping
+books and dishes in a pile in the orchard, in wildest confusion.
+Everything was taken out of the lower story. Even the carpets were
+ripped up from the floors before the warning cry came to stand back,
+that the roof was about to fall in. The fire brigade turned its
+attention to saving the barn, but that was old, too, and burned like
+tinder, as the breath of the approaching storm fanned the flames
+higher and higher.
+
+As Alec leaned back against the fence, breathless and flushed from
+his frantic exertions, Philippa came up to him, carrying the parlour
+clock and her best hat.
+
+"Come on," she said; "we've got to get all these things under shelter
+before the storm strikes us, or they'll be spoiled. Mrs. Sears has
+offered us part of her house. There are four empty rooms in the west
+wing, and Aunt Eunice says that we can't do any better than to take
+them for awhile."
+
+Again the neighbours came to the rescue, and, spurred on by the
+warning thunder, hurried the scattered household goods into shelter.
+They were all piled into one room in a hopeless tangle.
+
+"We'll not attempt to straighten out anything to-night," said Miss
+Eunice, looking round wearily when the last sympathetic neighbour had
+departed in time to escape the breaking storm. She and Philippa had
+accepted Mrs. Sears's offer of her guest-chamber for the night.
+Macklin had gone home with the minister's son. Alec had had many
+invitations, but he refused them all. With a morbid feeling that
+because his carelessness caused the fire he ought to do penance and
+not allow himself to be comfortable, he pulled a pillow and a
+mattress from the pile of goods into the empty room adjoining, and
+threw himself down on that.
+
+In the excitement of the scene through which he had just passed, he
+had entirely forgotten the engagement he had run away from. Now, as
+he stretched himself wearily out on the mattress, it flashed across
+his mind that he had failed to keep his appointment, and that the man
+had gone. A groan of disappointment escaped him.
+
+"If I wasn't born to a dog's luck!" he exclaimed, "to miss a position
+like that just when we need it the most. Goodness only knows what we
+are going to do now. But I needn't say that. It's a hard world, and
+there's no goodness in it."
+
+The next instant, he pulled the sheet over his eyes to shut out the
+blinding glare of lightning that lit up the empty room. The crash of
+thunder that followed seemed to his distorted fancy the defiant
+challenge of all the powers of darkness. All sorts of rebellious
+thoughts flocked through the boy's mind, as he lay there in the
+darkness of the empty room, thinking bitterly of his thwarted plans.
+Midnight always magnifies troubles, and as he brooded over his
+disappointments and railed at his fate, not only his past wrongs
+loomed up to colossal size, but a vague premonition of worse evil to
+come began to weigh on him. It was nearly morning before he dropped
+into a troubled sleep.
+
+Refreshed by a long night's rest and the tempting breakfast Mrs.
+Sears spread for her three guests, Philippa soon recovered her usual
+gay spirits. The news that Alec had disclosed the night before, which
+sent her stunned and heart-sick to her retreat in the old apple-tree,
+had faded into the background in the excitement of the fire. She
+thought of it all the time she was dressing, but the keenness of her
+distress was not so overwhelming as it had been. It was like some old
+pain that had lost its worst sting in the healing passage of time.
+
+She was young enough to take a keen pleasure in the novelty of the
+situation, and ran up-stairs and down with hammer and broom, laughing
+and joking over the settlement of every picture and piece of
+furniture with contagious good humour. Alec could not understand it.
+Even his Aunt Eunice was not as downcast as he had pictured her in
+the night, over the loss of her old home. With patient, steady
+effort, she moved along, bringing order out of confusion, and when
+Philippa's fresh young voice up-stairs broke out in the song that had
+come to be regarded as the family hymn, she joined in, at her work
+below, with a full, strong alto:
+
+               "Yet, in the maddening maze of things,
+                  Though tossed by storm and flood,
+                To one fixed trust my spirit clings:
+                  I know that God is good."
+
+"Jine in, Br'er Stoker," called Philippa, laughingly waving her
+duster in the doorway. "Why don't you sing?"
+
+Alec, who was prone on the floor, tacking down a bedroom carpet,
+hammered away without an answer. After waiting a minute, she dropped
+down on the floor beside him, upsetting a saucer full of tacks as she
+did so. "Say, Alec," she began, in a confidential tone, "what did the
+man at the hotel say last night? Is he going to take you?"
+
+"Of course not," was the sulky reply. "You didn't suppose I'd be
+lucky enough for that, did you? I didn't even see him. Another fellow
+was there ahead of me, and the fire-alarm sounded while I waited, and
+then it was all up. I couldn't dally round waiting for an interview
+when our home was burning, could I?"
+
+"Maybe he left some word for you," she suggested.
+
+"No; I ran down to the hotel to inquire, just as soon as I got the
+kitchen stove set up this morning. He left on the nine o'clock train
+last night, as he warned me he would, and as I didn't come according
+to my agreement, that's the last he'll ever think of me. Such luck as
+mine is, anyhow! It was my anxiety to get the place that made me go
+off and leave the lamp burning, and now I've not only missed the last
+chance I'll ever have, but I've been the means of burning the roof
+off from over our heads. You haven't any idea of the way I feel,
+Flip. I'm desperate! It fairly sets my teeth on edge to hear you go
+round singing of 'The Eternal Goodness' when I'm knocked out every
+way I turn, no matter how hard I try."
+
+"But, Alec," she answered, between taps of his noisy hammer, "it's
+foolish of you to take it so to heart, and look on nothing but the
+dark side. Of course, it is dreadful to be burned out of house and
+home, but it might have been lots worse. All the down-stairs
+furniture was saved, and the insurance company is going to put us up
+a nice little cottage as soon as possible. We were not without a roof
+over our heads for one single hour. Before the old one fell in, Mrs.
+Sears offered these rooms, and already things are beginning to look
+homelike. Mrs. Sears was one of our 'islands.'
+
+"There we were, you see. It was black night, and we didn't know which
+way to turn, but here were these empty rooms, all nice and clean,
+waiting for us. And it will be the same way about your getting a
+place if you don't lose faith and courage. You'll float along awhile
+farther, and when you're least expecting it, you'll come on your
+island that's been waiting for you all the time."
+
+"Oh, you don't know what you're talking about, Flip," answered Alec,
+impatiently, pounding away harder than ever. "You make me tired."
+
+"I do know what I'm talking about," she retorted, scrambling to her
+feet; "and I'll let you know, sir, my singing doesn't set your teeth
+on edge half as bad as your sour looks do mine. I wouldn't be such a
+grumble-bug! You act like a baby instead of a boy who prides himself
+on being old enough to shave."
+
+With this parting thrust, she flounced out of the room, unmindful of
+what he called after her, but she thought, guiltily, as she ran, "Now
+I've done it! He'll be furious all day; but I just had to! He needed
+somebody to shake him up out of himself, and I don't care!"
+
+Nevertheless, she sang no more that day, and a few tears dropped on
+her books, as she made a place for them on the shelves. All Alec's
+had been burned. He had lost more than any of them, for his was the
+only up-stairs room that was occupied. Philippa loved her brother too
+dearly not to suffer with him in all his losses and disappointments.
+
+It was a day of hard work for all of them, but four energetic,
+determined people can accomplish much, especially when one is a
+ten-year-old boy, whose sturdy legs can make countless trips up and
+down stairs without tiring, and another is an athletic young fellow
+with the endurance of a man.
+
+Late in the afternoon, Alec made a final round of inspection.
+Up-stairs the two bedrooms were in spotless order. They were
+furnished even better than those in the old house, for the library
+rugs and curtains had found place there, with some of the best
+pictures and ornaments. Down-stairs Philippa was standing in the
+centre of the room, about to remove the cover and lamp from the
+dining-room table.
+
+"Now it is the parlour," she said, gaily, waving her hand toward the
+old piano, the bookcases, and the familiar bric-a-brac on the mantel.
+"But shut your eyes a minute, and--_abracadabra!_ it's the
+dining-room." As she spoke, she whisked a white cloth on the old
+claw-footed mahogany table, and, throwing open a closet door,
+displayed the orderly rows of china.
+
+"We'll not have much for supper to-night, but I'm bound it shall be
+set out in style to celebrate our house-warming; so, Mack, if you
+have any legs left to toddle on, I wish you'd run out and get me a
+handful of purple asters to put in this glass bowl. I am glad that it
+wasn't broken. Some kind but agitated friend pitched it out of the
+window into the geranium bed."
+
+She rattled along gaily, with a furtive side-glance at Alec. He had
+had nothing to say to her since her outburst up-stairs, and now,
+ignoring her pleasantries, he walked into the kitchen in his most
+dignified manner.
+
+"Is there anything more you want me to do, Aunt Eunice?" he asked.
+
+Finding that there was nothing just then, he went out to the side
+porch opening off the room which was to be used as both dining-room
+and parlour. He had hung the hammock there a little while before, and
+he threw himself into it with a sigh of relief. Swinging back and
+forth in the shelter of the vines, the feeling of comfort began to
+steal over him that comes with the relaxation of tired muscles. The
+rattle of dishes and aroma of hot coffee coming out to him were
+pleasantly suggestive to his healthy young appetite.
+
+He closed his eyes, not intending to go to sleep, but the hammock
+stopped swinging almost instantly, and he did not hear the footsteps
+going past him a few minutes later, nor his Aunt Eunice's surprised
+cry of welcome as a tall, bearded stranger knocked at the door.
+
+The continuous murmur of voices finally roused him, and he lay there
+blinking and listening, trying to recognize the deep bass voice that
+laughed and talked so familiarly with his aunt.
+
+"The Lord has certainly sent you, Dick," Alec heard her say in a
+tremulous tone, and then he knew instantly who had come.
+
+[Illustration: "'THE LORD HAS CERTAINLY SENT YOU, DICK.'"]
+
+All his life he had heard of Dick Willis, one of the many boys his
+grandfather had befriended and taken into the shelter of his home for
+awhile. Dick had lived five years in the old house that had just
+burned, when Eunice and Sally Macklin were children; and all the
+stories of their school days were full of their foster-brother's
+mischievous sayings and doings.
+
+That the harum-scarum boy had given place to this middle-aged,
+successful business man, with the deep voice and big whiskers, was
+hard for Alec to realize, for in all Miss Eunice's reminiscences he
+had kept the perennial prankishness of youth. But now Alec,
+listening, learned the changes that had taken place since the man's
+last visit to his home. He had thought every year that he would come
+back for another visit, he told Miss Eunice, but he had put it off
+from season to season, hard pressed by the demands of business, and
+now it was too late for him to ever see the old homestead again. He
+had seen an account of the fire in a paper which he read on the train
+on his way East, and he decided to stop his journey long enough to
+run over to the old place for a few hours, and see if she did not
+need his help. He wanted her to feel that he stood ready to give it
+to the extent of his power, and expected her to call upon him as
+freely as if he were a real brother.
+
+Then it was that Miss Eunice's tremulous voice exclaimed again: "The
+Lord has certainly sent you, Dick! I have been worried for weeks over
+Alec's future. There is no outlook here in the village for him. If
+you could only get him a position somewhere--" She paused, the tears
+in her eyes. Alec listened breathlessly for his answer.
+
+"Why didn't you write me before this, Eunice? My business, travelling
+for a wholesale shoe house, takes me over a wide territory and gives
+me a large acquaintance. I am sure that I can get him into something
+or other very soon. You know that I would do anything for Sally's
+boy, and when you add to that the fact that he is Alexander Macklin's
+grandson, and I owe everything I am under heaven to that man, you may
+know that I'd leave no stone unturned to repay a little of his
+kindness to me."
+
+Alec's heart gave a great throb of hope. The good cheer of the hearty
+voice inspired him with a courage he had not felt in weeks. There was
+a patter of bare feet down the garden path, and, peering out between
+the vines, Alec saw one of the neighbour's boys coming in with a big
+dish covered carefully with a napkin.
+
+"It's fried chicken," announced the boy, with a grin, as Alec went
+down the step to meet him. "Mother said to eat it while it was hot.
+She knew you all would be too tired to cook much to-night."
+
+Without waiting to hear Alec's thanks, he scampered down the path
+again and squeezed through the gap in the fence made by a missing
+picket. Alec carried the dish round the house to the kitchen, where
+Philippa was putting the finishing touches to the supper, in her
+aunt's stead.
+
+"Did you know that Uncle Dick has come?" she asked, joyfully. "Oh,
+how good of Mrs. Pine to send the chicken! We didn't have anything
+for supper but coffee and rolls and eggs. He's certainly bringing
+good things in his wake. How delicious that chicken does smell! Let's
+take it as a good omen, Alec, a forerunner of better days. He'll
+surely get you out of your slough of despond."
+
+"Who, Flip? The chicken or Uncle Dick?" asked Alec, in his old
+jesting way, giving one of her long braids a tweak as he passed. A
+heavy load seemed to lift itself from Philippa's heart at this sign
+of Alec's return to his merry old self. All during supper she kept
+glancing at him, for, absorbed in their guest's interesting
+reminiscences, he seemed to have forgotten the grievances he had
+brooded over so long, and laughed and joked as he had not done for
+weeks.
+
+To their great regret, Uncle Dick had to leave that night. Alec
+walked to the station with him, feeling that he was being subjected
+to a very close cross-examination as to his capabilities and
+preferences. The train was late, and as they sat in the waiting-room,
+the man fell into a profound silence, his hands thrust into his
+pockets and his brows drawn together in deep thought.
+
+Finally he said: "You want to be a banker, like your grandfather.
+Well, I can't manage that, my boy. My influence doesn't lie in that
+direction. The best I can do is to get you in with the firm that
+manufactures all the shoes I sell. It is a big concern. The general
+manager of the factory at Salesbury is a good friend of mine, and I
+happen to know he is on the lookout for a reliable young fellow to
+put in training as his assistant. He is constantly giving somebody a
+trial, but nobody measures up to his requirements. Whoever takes it
+must go through a regular apprenticeship in the factory and learn the
+business from the ground up. According to his ideas, you'd not be
+fitted until you'd tried your hand at every piece of machinery in the
+factory, and knew how to turn out a pair of shoes from the raw
+leather. The wages will be small at first. Some of the duties are
+disagreeable, many of the requirements exacting, but promotion is
+rapid, and probably by the end of the year you'd be in the office,
+learning to take an oversight of the different departments; that is,
+if you had proved there was good stuff in you. If money is what you
+are after, this opening is better a thousand times than anything the
+village bank could give you in years, and in my opinion it's just as
+respectable a calling to handle leather as lucre. You'll have to work
+and work hard."
+
+"I don't mind how hard the work is," answered Alec. "I hate to give
+up the one thing that has been my ambition all my life, but I have
+come to the point where I'd do anything honest to get a place
+somewhere out of this town. I'd even scrub floors. You don't know
+what I've been through this summer, Uncle Dick. Of course, you know
+about my father?"
+
+He asked the question with such bitterness of tone that his listener
+scanned his face intently, then sympathetically.
+
+"Well, I must get away from that," Alec continued. "It's an awful
+handicap. The thought of it made me desperate at times. If they
+should hear about him in Salesbury and turn me down on his
+account--well, I'd just give up! I couldn't stand any more than I
+have already suffered on his account."
+
+There was no answer for a minute, then the deep voice answered,
+cheerily: "Alec, your grandmother Macklin once told me that when she
+was a very small child she went to visit her grandmother; quite a
+remote ancestor of yours that would be, wouldn't it? For some reason,
+she was put to sleep in a trundle-bed in the old lady's room, and
+along late in the night she was awakened by a very earnest voice. She
+sat up in the little trundle-bed to listen, and there was the old
+saint on her knees, praying for--now, what do you suppose? For 'all
+her posterity to the latest generation!' She said she didn't
+understand then what the words meant, but years afterward, when she
+held her first baby in her arms, they came back to her with a feeling
+of awe, to think that prayers uttered for him, long years before he
+was born, were still working to his blessing.
+
+"It is the same with you, Alec. Evil influences were set afloat by
+your father's crime that will undoubtedly work against you many a
+time, but you must remember all the good that lies on the other hand
+to counteract them. Even your great-great-grandmother's prayers must
+count for something in your behalf. I remember that Alexander Macklin
+planted an apple orchard after he was eighty years old. He never
+lived to gather even its first harvest, but you have been enjoying it
+all your life. He did a thousand unrecorded kindnesses that brought
+him no returns seemingly, but 'bread cast upon the waters' does come
+back after many days, my boy, every time. And you will be eating the
+results of that scattering all your life. The little that I may be
+able to do for you will only be the result of kindness he showed me,
+and which I could not repay, but am glad now to pass it on to his
+grandson. Don't grow bitter because of your father, and say that fate
+has handicapped you. That admission of itself will sap your courage
+and go far toward defeating you. Say, instead, '_The Eternal
+Goodness_ will more than compensate for the evil that this one man
+has wrought me.' Then go on, trusting in that, and win in spite of
+everything. The harder the struggle the more praise to the victor,
+you know."
+
+The whistle of the approaching train brought his little sermon to a
+close, and, seizing his satchel, he started hurriedly to the door.
+"I'll see the manager in a few days," he continued, hurriedly. "I
+have only a few stops to make this time on my way to Salesbury.
+Probably I'll have something definite to write you the last of the
+week. Good-bye and good luck to you!" He shook hands heartily, swung
+himself up on the platform, and disappeared into the car.
+
+Philippa was waiting in the hammock with a shawl over her head when
+Alec returned. The moonlight nights were chilly, but she could not
+bear to go inside until she heard the result of their conversation.
+
+"Oh, Alec," she exclaimed, as he came up wide awake and glowing from
+his walk and his hopeful interview, "wasn't it just like a lovely
+story to have the traditional uncle drop down long enough to restore
+the family fortunes and then disappear again?"
+
+"Yes, you're a good prophet," he laughed. "I drifted on to my island
+when I least expected it, and in the middle of my darkest night.
+Salesbury is four hundred miles from here, Flip, and we sha'n't see
+each other often, so if it will be any comfort to you, you may say,
+'I told you so,' three times a day, from now on until I leave."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+Philippa, coming home from school one afternoon, late in September,
+loitered at the gate for a few more words with the girls who had
+walked that far with her. Sometimes the little group lingered there
+until nearly sundown, between the laburnum bushes and hollyhocks of
+the old garden, but to-day, Alec's impatient whistle from an upper
+window signalled her. He waved a letter toward her, calling,
+excitedly, "It's come, Flip! It's come! I'm to start in the morning.
+I'm packing my trunk now."
+
+With a hurried good-bye to the girls at the gate, Philippa rushed up
+the stairs to her brother's room. The bureau drawers had all been
+emptied on the bed, and every chair was full.
+
+"Here's some things that need buttons," he announced, as she came in.
+"Aunt Eunice is pressing my best suit, and Mack has gone down-town
+after the shoes that I left to be half-soled. I'll have to rush, for
+the letter says to come at once. I didn't suppose they'd be in such a
+hurry. They're hustlers, I guess."
+
+His haste was so contagious that Philippa ran into the next room for
+her sewing-basket, without waiting to take off her hat, and sitting
+down on the floor beside the window began to sew on buttons as fast
+as she asked questions. She always had plenty to say to Alec, and now
+that the time for conversation was limited to a few short hours, she
+could not talk fast enough.
+
+Presently the click of the gate made her look out. "Here comes Mack,"
+she said. "Your shoes are wrapped in a newspaper, and he's so busy
+reading something on it that he doesn't know where he is going. Look
+out, snail!" she called; "you'll bump into the house in a minute if
+you are not careful!"
+
+The boy came slowly up the stairs still spelling out the paragraph
+that interested him.
+
+"Alec," he said, pausing in the doorway, "what's a green goods man?
+This says that a gang of 'em were arrested in New York. The
+detectives traced them by a letter one of them left here in
+Ridgeville at the hotel. Think of that! Jonas Clark is the man's real
+name, alias H-u-m-p-h," he spelled, "Humphrey (I guess it is) Long."
+
+Alec snatched the knotty bundle and glanced at the paragraph so
+eagerly that Philippa looked at him in surprise. She was still more
+surprised to see a deep flush spread over his face, as he tore the
+newspaper off the shoes and glanced at the date. Then he dropped it
+on the bed and began to fumble for something in the bottom of his
+trunk, saying, carelessly, "Oh, green goods men are just fellows who
+rope people in to buy counterfeit money. Here, Mack, you'll not have
+a chance to run many more errands for me. Trot down to Aunt Eunice
+with these neckties, please, and ask her to press them for me while
+she's in the business."
+
+As soon as Mack disappeared, Alec caught up the paper again. "Flip,"
+he said, in an impressive voice, after his second reading, "do you
+remember the night of the fire I was to meet a man at the hotel and
+make the final arrangement with him for taking a position he had
+offered me?"
+
+Philippa nodded.
+
+"Well, that is the man; Humphrey Long. Think of what I have escaped.
+From what he said about his sure scheme for making money and making
+it easy, I know now that is what he meant; but I never suspected such
+a thing then. He was the smoothest talker I ever saw, and was as
+gentlemanly and well dressed as the minister. And such a way as he
+had! He could almost make a body believe that black was white.
+Suppose I had gone off with him. Whillikens! but I would be in hot
+water now! Everybody would have said, 'Only a chip off the old block.
+Just what might have been expected with such a father.'"
+
+"But, Alec, you wouldn't have gone after he had told you what his
+business was!" Philippa exclaimed, in a horrified tone. "You know
+that you wouldn't."
+
+"No," he answered, slowly, "but I think now that he intended to keep
+me in the dark till he got me just where he wanted me, in too deep to
+inform on them. And I was so desperate for a job away from here that
+I would have accepted his offer with very few questions. Don't you
+see, my very ignorance of his schemes would have made me a better
+decoy in some cases than if I had not been such an innocent young
+duck. Of course, Stumpy Fisher told him all about me," he added,
+after a moment's thought. "He might have counted on my being enough
+like my father to take kindly to his crookedness."
+
+"How queerly things work out!" said Philippa. "If you had had your
+own way, you'd have been off with that man and probably in jail with
+him now. But the fire stopped you. And if it hadn't been for the
+fire, Uncle Dick never would have been aroused to the necessity of
+leaving his business long enough to make us a visit, and if it hadn't
+been for the visit you never would have had this position in
+Salesbury."
+
+"That's so," Alec assented, gravely. "It's a whole chain of those
+islands that you and Aunt Eunice are always singing about. I'll make
+a map of them some day and name each one: 'Fire Island,' 'Isle of
+Uncle Dick,' etc. Then I'll name the whole group after you: 'Flip's
+Providence Islands,' or something like that."
+
+Then the subject was dropped, as Macklin came clattering back up the
+stairs.
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+If the history of Alec's experiences during the next few weeks could
+have been written, it would have differed little from that of
+thousands of boys who yearly leave farm and village to push their way
+into the already overcrowded cities. Eager and hopeful, his ambition
+placed no limit to the success he meant to achieve. That he might
+fall short of the goal he set for himself never once entered his
+thoughts. He knew the conditions requisite to success, and felt an
+honest pride in the consciousness that he could meet them. He had a
+strong, healthy body, a thorough education so far as the high school
+could take him, good habits, and high ideals.
+
+As the train whirled him on toward Salesbury, he felt that at last he
+was placing himself in line with the long list of illustrious men who
+had begun life as poor boys and ended it as the benefactors of
+mankind. And he felt that he had a distinct advantage over Franklin
+and some of his ilk, for he faced his future with far more than a
+loaf of bread under his arm. Forward in the baggage-car his
+grandfather's old leather trunk held ample provision for his present,
+and an assured position awaited him.
+
+Salesbury was not a large city, but it seemed a crowded metropolis to
+Alec's eyes, accustomed to the quiet life of the little inland
+village. But it was not as a gaping backwoodsman he viewed its
+sights. If he had never seen a trolley-car before, he had carefully
+studied the power that propels one. The whir and clang, the rush of
+automobiles, the pounding of machinery in the great factory all
+seemed familiar, because they were a part of the world he had learned
+to know in his extensive reading. Keenly alive to new impressions, he
+was so interested in everything that went on round him that he had
+little time to be lonesome at first.
+
+He stayed only a few days at the hotel. Anxious to repay his Aunt
+Eunice as soon as possible the money she had spent in replenishing
+his wardrobe after the fire, and defraying his travelling expenses,
+he took a room in a lodging-house, and his meals at a cheap
+restaurant. In that way he was able to save nearly twice as much each
+week toward cancelling his indebtedness.
+
+The letters he wrote home were re-read many times. They were so
+bright and cheerful and full of interesting descriptions. He didn't
+like the work in the factory, but he liked the manager, and with the
+determination to make his apprenticeship as short as possible and
+gain a place in the office, he pegged away with a faithfulness and
+energy that he felt sure must bring a speedy reward.
+
+Not till the cold November nights came did Miss Eunice detect a
+little note of homesickness creeping into his letters. She would not
+have wondered could she have looked in on him while he wrote,
+buttoned up in his overcoat and with his hat on. His chilly little
+bedroom, with its dim lamp and worn matting, was a dismal contrast to
+the cheerful home where he had always spent his winter evenings. Then
+she noticed that there was nearly always some reference to the
+restaurant fare, some longing expressed for one more taste of her
+cooking--the good cream gravy, the mince turnovers, the crisp
+doughnuts that had been his favourite dishes at home.
+
+Once he wrote to Philippa:
+
+    "Think of it, Flip! I don't know a single girl in town.
+    Excepting my landlady, I haven't spoken to a woman since I
+    pulled out of the depot at Ridgeville two months ago. It seems
+    so strange to know only the factory fellows, when at home I
+    was acquainted with everybody. The manager, Mr. Windom, has a
+    pretty daughter whom I'd give a good deal to know. She drives
+    down to the office with him sometimes, and I see her at church.
+    She looks something like your chum, Nordic Gray, laughing sort
+    of eyes, and soft, light hair, and a saucy little nose like
+    your own."
+
+Later, in a reply to a question from Miss Eunice, he wrote:
+
+    "No, I haven't put in my church letter yet. I took it with me
+    every Sunday for awhile, but I can't get screwed up to the
+    point, somehow. People here are so stand-offish with strangers.
+    I've gone pretty regularly, but nobody has spoken to me yet. I
+    suppose they think that a gawky country boy doesn't belong in
+    such a fashionable congregation. The minister doesn't come down
+    after service to shake hands with people, as Doctor Meldrum
+    does at home. They have a Christian Endeavour Society that I
+    think might be nice if there was any way of breaking the ice to
+    get into it. The young people seem to have the best kind of
+    times among themselves, but they don't seem to care for anybody
+    that hasn't the inside track in their exclusive little circle."
+
+Then the letters grew shorter. "He had no time to write during the
+day," he explained. At night he was either so tired that he went to
+bed as soon as he had his supper, or some of the boys that worked
+where he did came round for him to go out with them. He had been to
+the library several times, and to a free band-concert. When he was
+out of debt, he intended to get a season lecture course ticket and go
+to other entertainments once in awhile to keep from getting the
+blues.
+
+He did not mention some of the other places to which he had gone with
+the boys. It would only worry his Aunt Eunice, he thought. Probably
+she wouldn't think it was any harm if she lived in the city. People
+in little places were apt to be narrow-minded, he told himself. He
+could feel that his own opinions were broadening every day.
+
+He wrote to Macklin on Thanksgiving Day, saying that he intended to
+make the most of his holiday and skate all the afternoon. He was glad
+that he had brought his skates, for the ice was in fine condition.
+That was the last letter home for two weeks.
+
+While Miss Eunice worried, and Philippa haunted the post-office, he
+was lying ill in his cheerless little bedroom, on the top floor of
+the cheap lodging-house. He had skated not only Thanksgiving
+afternoon, but again at night when the ice was illuminated by
+bonfires and lanterns. There was a danger-signal posted farther down
+where the ice was thin. He had avoided it all the afternoon, but
+intent on cutting some fancy figure one of the boys had taught him,
+he did not notice how near he was to the dangerous spot until he
+heard a cracking noise all round him, and it was too late to save
+himself from a plunge into the icy water.
+
+Although he was helped out immediately, and ran every step of the way
+to his room, he was shaking with a chill when he reached it. All the
+covering he could pile on the bed did not stop the chattering of his
+teeth as he lay shivering between the cold sheets. In the morning he
+was burning with fever. There was such a sharp pain in his lungs that
+he could not draw a full breath.
+
+He tried to get up and dress, but the attempt made him so weak and
+dizzy that he could only stagger back to bed and lie there in a sort
+of stupor. It was not quite clear to him who brought a doctor, but
+one came in the course of the morning and left two kinds of little
+pellets and a glass of water on the chair beside his bed. He was to
+take two pink pellets every hour and one white one every two hours,
+he was told.
+
+There was no clock in the room, and he had no watch, but the
+engine-house bell in the next block clanged the alarm regularly.
+
+The responsibility of giving himself his own medicine kept him from
+dropping asleep as he longed to do. He would doze for a few minutes
+and start up, fearing that he had let the time go by, or that he had
+taken a double dose, or that he had confused directions. Was it two
+pink ones or two white ones, or one hour or two hours? He said it
+over and over with every variation possible. The confusion was
+maddening.
+
+The pain in his lungs grew worse. He was burning with thirst, but
+there was no more water in the glass. He looked round the room with
+feverish, aching eyes, that suddenly filled with hot tears. If he
+could only be back in his own room at home, with Aunt Eunice to care
+for him, and Flip to make him comfortable, how good it would seem! He
+was tasting to the dregs the misery of being ill, all alone among
+strangers.
+
+Toward evening the woman who kept the lodging-house sent a little
+coloured boy up to ask if he wanted anything. A pitcher of water was
+all that Alec asked for. That being supplied, the boy shut the door
+and clattered down the hall, whistling. The night seemed endless.
+Hour after hour he started up shuddering, as the bell's loud clang
+awakened him, not knowing what it was that startled him. In his
+feverish hallucinations he thought he was continually breaking
+through the ice into a sea of burning water. He kept clutching at the
+pillows, thinking they were islands that he was for ever drifting
+past and could never reach.
+
+When morning came at last, and the doctor made his second visit, he
+found Alec delirious and the medicine still on the chair beside the
+bed. With one glance round the cheerless room, he shrugged his
+shoulders and went out for help.
+
+When Alec next noticed his surroundings with eyes that were once more
+clear and rational, he saw that the dingy little grate had been
+opened and a bright fire was burning in it. The clothing he had left
+on the floor in a heap had been put away. The window shade no longer
+hung askew. He looked round half-expecting to see his Aunt Eunice or
+Flip, and wondered if he had been so ill that some one had sent for
+them. Then his glance fell on a grizzled old man with a wooden leg,
+dozing in a rocking-chair by the fire.
+
+"Old Jimmy Scott!" Alec said to himself after a moment's puzzled
+scrutiny, in which he racked his brain to recall where he had seen
+the face before. Finally he remembered. One of the boys had pointed
+him out as an old soldier who had taken to nursing when he could no
+longer fight. He held no diploma from any training-school for nurses,
+he was uncouth and rough in many ways, but his varied experiences had
+made him a valuable assistant to the doctor, whom he called his
+general, and obeyed with military exactness.
+
+As Alec stirred on his pillow, the old soldier looked up, and then
+hobbled over to the bed as quietly as his wooden leg would allow. He
+bent over him, felt his pulse, and then said, cheerfully, "All right,
+buddy, guess it's time now for rations." Taking a covered cup from
+the hob on the grate, he deftly put a spoonful of hot beef tea to
+Alec's lips.
+
+"You had a pretty close call, young man," he said, in response to
+Alec's attempt to question him. "A leetle more and it would have been
+double pneumonia. But you're about out of the woods now. We'll soon
+have you on your feet." Giving his patient a few more spoonfuls, he
+drew the covers gently in place, saying, "Now don't you talk any
+more. Turn over and go to sleep."
+
+Weak, yet thrilled with a delightful sense of comfort and freedom
+from pain, Alec obeyed unquestioningly. True, a thought did trail
+teasingly across his mind for a moment, a dim wonder as to where the
+money was to come from to pay for the expensive luxuries of nurse and
+doctor and medicines and fire, but it faded presently, and instead
+his Aunt Eunice's old song took its place:
+
+                 "I know not where His islands lift
+                      Their fronded palms in air;
+                  I only know I cannot drift
+                      Beyond--beyond--beyond--"
+
+He groped languidly for the final words, but could not recall them.
+"Never mind," he thought, drowsily; "I've got as far as old Jimmy
+Scott, and that's a big enough island for this trip."
+
+A most comfortable stopping-place old Jimmy proved to be.
+
+Considerate as a woman of his patient's comfort, cheerful, tireless,
+and prompt as a minute-gun in carrying out the doctor's instructions,
+it was not long before he had Alec sitting up for a little while each
+day. With such an old philosopher to keep him company, and
+entertained by the old veteran's endless fund of anecdote, Alec
+enjoyed those few days of convalescence more than he could have
+believed possible.
+
+"It isn't such a bad sort of world, after all," he remarked one
+morning, the day after the minister had called. "It is strange what a
+difference knowing persons makes in the way you feel toward them. The
+minister was as cordial and friendly as Doctor Meldrum used to be in
+Ridgeville. Wonder how he found out about me? I didn't know he'd ever
+heard of me or noticed me in the congregation."
+
+Old Jimmy made no reply, although he longed to say: "He came because
+I sent for him, buddy, as people ought to do. They are quick enough
+to send for a doctor when their bodies are sick, but when they are
+out of sorts either physically or mentally they never think of
+letting their minister know. They hang back and feel hurt if he
+doesn't come, just as if he could tell by intuition or a sort of
+sixth sense that he's needed. How can a D. D. be expected to know
+when you want him, any more than an M. D.?"
+
+That afternoon as Alec sat propped up by the window for a little
+while, looking down on the snowy street, there was a knock at the
+door. Old Jimmy, answering it, came back with a florist's box
+addressed, "Mr. Alec Stoker, with best wishes and sympathy of the
+Grace Church Christian Endeavour Society." Inside was a fragrant
+bunch of hothouse roses.
+
+Alec held them up in amazement. "Why should they have sent them to
+me?" he cried. There was no Endeavour society in Ridgeville, and he
+did not understand its methods.
+
+"The flower committee sends 'em to all the sick people in the
+congregation," explained Jimmy. "Posies and piety always sorter go
+together, seems like. Pretty, ain't they? But they ain't half so
+pretty as the young ladies that brought 'em."
+
+"Young ladies!" gasped Alec, looking toward the door.
+
+"Yes, the flower committee itself, I suppose. I didn't know two of
+them. But one of them you ought to know, buddy, seeing as it's the
+daughter of your boss. Thomas Windom's daughter--Avery, I believe
+they call her."
+
+Alec's heart gave a thump. Avery Windom was the pretty girl he had
+written to Flip about; the one whom he had wanted of all others to
+know; and she had climbed to his door, had left the roses; it seemed
+too strange to be true.
+
+He leaned toward the window and looked down. Yes, there she went with
+her friends, fluttering along the snowy street. He could see the
+gleam of her soft, light hair under her velvet hat. Her cheeks were
+flushed with her walk in the cold. He leaned eagerly nearer the
+window as she fluttered along, farther and farther down the street,
+until she was lost in the crowd. Then he lay back in the chair with a
+sigh. It seemed so long since he had lived in a world where there
+were bright, friendly girls like Flip. The sight of these who had
+been so near made him homesick for the old friends of his school
+days, and he began to talk to old Jimmy about his sister and the good
+times they used to have together.
+
+"I wonder which one wrote this card," he thought, as he slipped it
+out of the box. "I am sure she did. The handwriting is so light and
+graceful, just like her. So her name is Avery. I might have known it
+would be different from other girls'. Avery! Avery!" he repeated
+softly, while old Jimmy stumped out into the hall for some water in
+which to put the roses. "It's a pretty name. I wonder if I'll ever
+know her well enough to call her that."
+
+"Time to get back into bed now," said old Jimmy, coming in with the
+pitcher. He placed the roses in it on a stand beside the bed.
+"Mustn't overdo matters."
+
+"No, indeed," said Alec, with a new note of determination in his
+voice which did not escape old Jimmy. "I've got to get well in a
+hurry now, and go back to work." Then he settled himself on his
+pillow, and lay smiling happily at the roses.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+If the calendar over Alec's mantel could have told the history of the
+next few weeks, it would have been the record of a hard struggle with
+homesickness and discouragement. There was a heavy black cross drawn
+through the date of his return to work. He had come in that night
+when it was over weighed down with the fact that his wages had been
+stopped in his absence, and that it would take a long time to pay the
+debts incurred during his illness.
+
+There was a zigzag line struck twice across the calendar below that
+date. "That much goes for the doctor!" he exclaimed, fiercely
+checking off the time with a stubby pencil. "And that much to old
+Jimmy, and that much for fire and extras. It'll take way into the new
+year to get straightened out. Luckily I am nearly through with my
+debt to Aunt Eunice."
+
+Later there was a tiny star drawn in the corner of one date. It
+marked the Sabbath evening he had gone to the Christian Endeavour
+praise service and heard Avery Windom sing. He had been introduced to
+half a dozen of the boys and girls, and been invited to come again,
+and had gone back to his calendar to count the nights until the next
+meeting. Ever since he had left home, he had longed with a longing
+that was like hunger for the companionship of young people such as he
+had known at home. There was a blur over one of the dates, the little
+square that marked the twenty-fifth of December. It was a red-letter
+day on the calendar, but in Alec's bare little room a holiday that
+dragged its dismal length out toward dark, like a dull ache.
+
+The box that had been sent him from home failed to reach him till the
+next day. Standing with his hands in his pockets, looking out over
+the snowy roofs of the city, he recalled all the merry Christmas days
+at home, since the first time he and Flip had hung up their stockings
+beside their grandfather's wide chimney-seat. This was the first time
+he had ever missed following the old custom. The city seemed
+overflowing with the joy and good-will of the Yuletide, yet none of
+it was for him. He had never felt so utterly left out and alone in
+all his life.
+
+Despite his seventeen years, there was an ache in his throat that he
+could not drive back, and when he laid down the calendar he had been
+mechanically examining, although he whistled bravely, there was a
+telltale blur on the page.
+
+But there came a day when he tore off the leaf that was crossed with
+the double black lines meaning debt and worry, and began a fresh
+sheet which seemed to promise better days. A change of work came the
+first of February, and a slight advance in wages. The manager, who
+had kept a keen eye on him, was beginning to think that at last he
+had found a boy who was worth training, and that if he proved as
+efficient in every stage of his apprenticeship as he had in the
+first, he would soon have the capable assistant that he had long been
+in search of.
+
+Alec's notification of his promotion was in the envelope which held
+his check for the last week in January. He did not see it until he
+stepped into the bank to have the check cashed, and in his delight
+and surprise he could scarcely refrain from turning a handspring.
+
+So many people were ahead of him that he had to stand several minutes
+awaiting his turn at the little barred window. In that time he made
+several rapid calculations on the back of the envelope.
+
+"Can you give me five dollars of that in gold?" he asked of the
+cashier when his turn finally came. With a nod of assent, the cashier
+counted out several small bills, and laid a shining five-dollar gold
+piece on top. Alec seized it eagerly and, thrusting the bills into
+his pocket, walked out with the coin in his hand.
+
+Long ago he had decided how to spend his first surplus five dollars
+if it came in time. It should go as a happy surprise to Flip on her
+sixteenth birthday. It had come in time. Her birthday was on the
+twenty-first of the month. At first he thought he could not wait
+three long weeks before sending it. He wanted her to have the
+pleasure and surprise of receiving it at once; and he wanted the
+thrill of feeling that he was man enough not only to be
+self-supporting, but to help care for his sister.
+
+[Illustration: "HE MADE SEVERAL RAPID CALCULATIONS ON THE BACK OF THE
+ENVELOPE."]
+
+He wrapped the coin in a bit of tissue-paper, torn from the
+shaving-case Flip had sent him in the delayed Christmas box. Then he
+carefully put it in the inner pocket of the old wallet he carried.
+But scarcely a night passed between that time and the twentieth that
+he did not take a peep at the coin, and then count the days on his
+calendar.
+
+Ever since the night of the praise service, when he first heard Avery
+Windom sing, he had been a regular attendant at the Christian
+Endeavour meetings. It was like a bit of home to sit there in the
+midst of the young people, singing the familiar old hymns, and he
+sang them so heartily and entered into the exercises of the meeting
+with such zest that he soon lost the feeling that he was only a
+stranger within the gates.
+
+There were some, it is true, who were only coolly polite to him,
+thinking of his position, an unknown boy working in the shoe factory
+as a common labourer. He felt the chill of their manner keenly, and
+he knew why he was so pointedly ignored. It was not a deeply
+spiritual society. Only a few of the members were really consecrated
+Christians. There were more socials and concerts and literary
+evenings than devotional meetings. Most of the members belonged to
+old, wealthy families, and had always been accustomed to leisure and
+pocket-money. Alec soon realized the bounds that were set to his
+social privileges. He might take a prominent part in the meetings,
+even be asked to lead on occasions, be put on committees, be assigned
+many tasks in connection with suppers and festivals, but outside of
+his church relationship he was never noticed. No hospitable home
+swung open its doors for him.
+
+Only one who has lived in a country place, which knows no class
+distinctions, where character is all that counts, and where the
+butcher and baker may be bidden any day, in simple village fashion,
+to banquet with the judge, only such an one can understand the
+feeling of a boy in Alec's position. He wondered sometimes, with a
+sudden sinking of the heart, what would be the result if they knew
+about his father.
+
+He never looked at Avery Windom without thinking of it. He used to
+watch her in church, sitting up between her aristocratic father and
+mother, sweet and refined, like a dainty white flower. He wondered if
+her slim-gloved hand would ever be held out to him again in greeting,
+as it had been on several occasions, if she knew that he was the son
+of a criminal.
+
+Then he wondered what she would think if she knew that the touch of
+that little hand in his had been like the saving touch of a guardian
+angel. Once, urged on by one of the factory boys, an almost
+overwhelming temptation had seized him, but the remembrance that if
+he yielded he would never again be fit to take her hand made him
+thrust his into his pockets and turn away toward home with a shrug of
+the shoulders.
+
+Avery, as ignorant of the influence she was exerting as a lily is of
+the fragrance it sheds, went serenely on in her gentle, high-bred
+way. Alec held no larger place in her thoughts than any other of the
+employees in her father's factory.
+
+"Flip would call her one of my islands," he said to himself one
+night, as he parted on the corner from a crowd of boys who were
+begging him to go with them for a little game of cards and a lark
+afterward. "No telling where I would have drifted if it hadn't been
+for her. It's no easy matter to keep straight when you're all alone
+in a city as big and tough as this."
+
+On his way home, he stopped at the library for a book he had heard
+her mention. He had overheard her quoting a line from Sir Galahad,
+and although he knew the story well of the maiden knight "whose
+strength was as the strength of ten because his heart was pure," it
+took on a new meaning because she had praised it. He learned the
+entire poem by heart, and the inspiration of the lines as he bent
+over his work in the factory gave him many an uplift that left him
+more nearly the man whom he imagined Avery's ideal to be.
+
+One other date was marked on the calendar with a star before Flip's
+birthday came round. It was the night of the literary contest at the
+high school, when Avery's essay took the prize. Alec had manoeuvred
+for a week to get a ticket, and finally procured one from the head
+bookkeeper at the factory, whose sister taught in the high school.
+
+[Illustration: "'IT'S THE FIRST MONEY I EVER EARNED IN MY LIFE,' SHE
+SAID, GLEEFULLY."]
+
+He lingered a little while after the contest in the outskirts of the
+crowd that flocked up to congratulate Avery. She came out to the
+carriage on her father's arm, with a fleecy evening cloak wrapped
+round her, and he saw the prize. She held it out a moment in her
+bare, white hand to some one who stood near Alec. It was a bright
+five-dollar gold piece.
+
+"It's the first money I ever earned in my life," she said, gleefully,
+including Alec in her smile, so that he felt that the remark was
+addressed to him. "It is so precious I shall have to put it under a
+glass case. Maybe I can never earn another one."
+
+In his room once more, Alec took out his little gold coin, and,
+looking at it, thought he could understand just how proud Avery must
+feel of hers.
+
+The next time he saw her it was at a Christian Endeavour meeting.
+Ralph Bently was with her, a gentlemanly, elegant boy in appearance,
+but Alec knew the reputation he had among the young fellows who knew
+him best, and it made him set his teeth together hard to see him with
+a girl as pure and refined as Avery.
+
+"He isn't fit," he thought. "He shouldn't speak to Flip if I could
+prevent it, and even if he is Avery's cousin and such a young boy,
+Mr. Windom oughtn't to let him into the house."
+
+For several weeks, at every meeting, the president had made an
+especial appeal for larger contributions. A large, expensive organ
+was being built for the church. The Christian Endeavour Society had
+pledged themselves to pay five hundred dollars of the amount due on
+it, but part of the sum was still lacking, even after all the socials
+and fairs that had been given to raise the amount. The president
+urged each member to add a little to his previous subscription, even
+at the cost of much self-denial.
+
+Alec had been asked to assume the duty of regularly passing one of
+the collection boxes at the Sunday night services. He had done this
+so often in the Sunday school at home that he felt no embarrassment
+in doing so now, except when he reached the row of chairs where Avery
+and her cousin sat. He sneezed just as he extended the long-handled
+collection box toward them, and flushed hotly for having called every
+one's attention to himself by the loud noise.
+
+The other collector, having finished first, placed his box on the
+secretary's little stand and went back to his seat. As Alec came
+forward, the president asked him in a low tone to count the money,
+and be ready to report the amount after the singing of the last hymn.
+
+Turning his back to the audience, Alec emptied both boxes into the
+seat of the big pulpit chair standing next to the president's. The
+two chairs were old Gothic ones, recently retired from the church
+pulpit to make room for new furniture. There were a number of pennies
+in the lot, and during the singing he counted them carefully several
+times, in order to be sure that he had made no mistake.
+
+The hymn was a short one. It came to an end as Alec laid several
+little piles of coin on the table at the secretary's elbow.
+
+"Four dollars and ninety-six cents, did you say?" repeated the
+president, leaning over to catch the report Alec gave in an
+undertone. "Four dollars and ninety-six cents," he announced aloud.
+"Really we must do better than that."
+
+Alec saw Avery and Ralph exchange surprised glances. The president
+went on repeating his former explanations of their financial
+difficulties. Alec, still watching, saw Ralph Bently make a move to
+rise, and Avery's hand was laid detainingly on his arm. She was
+whispering and shaking her head; but Ralph was not to be deterred by
+any remonstrance. He was on his feet, exclaiming:
+
+"Mr. President, pardon the interruption. There is some mistake in
+that report! The collection should amount to far more than four
+dollars and ninety-six cents. Miss Windom alone gave more than that.
+I saw her drop a five-dollar gold piece into the box."
+
+Avery blushed furiously at being called into public notice in such a
+manner by her impetuous young cousin. Every drop of blood seemed to
+leave Alec's face for an instant, and then rushed back until it
+burned a fiery crimson. He was indignant that Ralph Bently should have
+been so wanting in courtesy as to proclaim in public the amount of
+his cousin's donation, the cherished gold piece she had won at the
+prize contest. And he was deeply mortified to think that he could
+have made a mistake in counting it. He wondered if he could have been
+such a fool as to have mistaken the coin for a new penny. What would
+Avery think of him?
+
+He turned toward the table, evidently disturbed, and counted the
+money again. Then he shook his head.
+
+"You can see for yourself," he said; "four dollars and ninety-six
+cents!"
+
+The president picked up both boxes, and, turning them upside down
+over the table, shook them energetically. The secretary shoved back
+the chair in which the money had been counted, gave it a tip that
+would have dislodged any coin left on its smooth plush seat, and
+peered anxiously round on the floor.
+
+"Don't give it another thought, Mr. Stoker, please don't!" exclaimed
+Avery, going up to him when her attention was called to his worried
+expression. "I'm sure it has rolled off into some corner and the
+janitor will find it when he sweeps. I'll speak to him about it.
+Anyhow, it is too small a matter to make such a fuss over. I never
+should have told Ralph what it was if he hadn't teased me about what
+I had tied up in the corner of my handkerchief." Then she passed on
+with a smile.
+
+Alec lingered to help collect the hymn-books, and when he passed into
+the vestibule he heard voices on the outer steps. One of them sounded
+like Ralph Bently's.
+
+"Oh, maybe so!" it exclaimed, with a disagreeable little laugh; "but
+it's queer how money will stick to some people's fingers."
+
+Alec, who was in the act of opening the door to go from the
+prayer-meeting room into the auditorium of the church for the evening
+service, paused an instant. He was overwhelmed by the sudden
+conviction that he was the person meant.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+The next day at noon, after a hurried lunch at the restaurant, Alec
+stopped at the post-office on his way back to the factory. He wanted
+to add a few lines to the birthday letter which he had written
+Philippa the night before. He wrote them standing at the public desk;
+then, drawing the old wallet from his pocket, he took out the
+long-cherished gold coin from its wrapping of tissue-paper and
+dropped it into the envelope.
+
+"I'm afraid it isn't safe to send it that way," he said to himself,
+balancing the letter on two fingers. "It is so heavy that any one
+could guess what's in it, and it might wear through. I did want her
+to have it in gold, but I suppose it will be more sensible to send a
+postal order."
+
+After a moment's deliberation, he turned to the window beside the
+desk, and asked for a money-order blank. Some one came in while he
+was filling it out, but he was so absorbed in his occupation that he
+did not look up until he turned to push the slip and the money
+through the window bars toward the clerk. Then he saw that it was
+Ralph Bently who stood behind him, flipping a postal order in his
+fingers, impatient to have it cashed. They exchanged careless nods,
+and Alec, sealing his letter, dropped it into the box and hurried
+back to his work. As the outer door swung shut, Bently leaned his
+arms on the window ledge and spoke to the clerk, who was an intimate
+friend of his.
+
+"Say, Billy," he exclaimed, "let me see that coin that Stoker paid
+you just now, will you? Push it out here a minute."
+
+"What's up?" inquired the clerk, as he complied with the request.
+
+"Oh, nothing much. I just wanted to look at the date." As he examined
+it, he gave a long whistle. "Whe-ew! It's the same. Curious
+coincidence, I must say! This young brother takes up a collection
+Sunday night. Avery drops in her five-dollar gold piece that she got
+as a prize, you know. Collector turns his back on the meeting to
+count the money, hands in a report of only four dollars and
+ninety-six cents. Vows he never saw the gold in the box. A thorough
+search of the room fails to bring it to light. Nobody can imagine how
+it disappeared. The next morning he has a coin of the same date to
+dispose of."
+
+"Who is the fellow, anyway?" asked the clerk.
+
+"That's just it! Who is he? Nobody knows. He came here from some
+little place back in the country several months ago, and went to work
+in the Downs & Company shoe factory."
+
+"If that's the case, why don't you ask your uncle about him? He's
+both the company and the manager in the firm, isn't he? He'd know
+whether the fellow was to be trusted or not."
+
+"I intend to," was the answer; "and say, Billy, if you don't mind,
+I'll take that coin. Here's its equivalent."
+
+He pushed a rustling new bank-note toward his friend. "See me play
+Sherlock Holmes now. I always did think I'd make a good detective."
+
+"Look out," was the warning reply. "You have only a slim bit of
+circumstantial evidence, and it would be hard on the boy to start
+such a tale if there were no truth in it."
+
+With the coin in his pocket, Ralph sauntered down to his uncle's
+office. It was some time before the busy man could spare time to
+listen to him.
+
+"Well," he said at last, looking up, pen in hand, "what can I do for
+you this morning, Ralph?" He had always taken a special interest in
+his sister's only son, and now smiled kindly as he approached.
+
+"Oh, nothing, thank you, uncle. I just dropped in to ask you about
+one of the employees in the factory. Who is this Alec Stoker, and
+where did he come from?"
+
+The manager's brow contracted an instant in thought. The factory was
+a large one, and the roll of employees long.
+
+"Stoker! Stoker!" he repeated. Then his face cleared. "Ah! He is the
+nephew of the best salesman we have on the road. Came well
+recommended from a little town called Ridgeville, I believe. He seems
+to be a faithful, energetic boy, and has already pushed up to one
+promotion."
+
+"Did any one recommend him besides his uncle?" asked Ralph,
+meaningly.
+
+"No, that was sufficient. But you evidently have a reason for these
+inquiries. Do you know anything about him?"
+
+"No, only--" he shrugged his shoulders. "Something happened last
+night that put me on my guard. Didn't Avery tell you?"
+
+At the mention of his daughter's name in connection with Ralph's
+insinuations, Mr. Windom was instantly alert. He laid down his pen.
+"No, tell me!" he demanded.
+
+In as few words as possible, Ralph told of the disappearance of
+Avery's money from the collection box, and the discovery he had made
+at the post-office. When he had finished, Mr. Windom shook his head
+gravely.
+
+"You are making a very serious charge, Ralph," he said, "and on very
+slight provocation. At sixteen one is apt to jump at hasty
+conclusions. Take the advice of sober sixty, my boy. It is a
+remarkable coincidence, I admit, but even the common law regards a
+man as innocent until he is proved guilty, and surely a society that
+stands for all that the Christian Endeavour does would not fall below
+the common law in its sense of justice. I'm surprised that its
+members should be so quick to whisper suspicion and point the
+accusing finger."
+
+"Oh, I'm not a member!" Ralph exclaimed, hastily. "I am perfectly
+free to say what I think. Somehow I've never liked the fellow from
+the start. He takes so much on himself, and seems to want to push
+himself in where he doesn't belong."
+
+Mr. Windom, swinging round in his revolving chair toward his desk,
+picked up his pen again. "Stoker is all right so far as I know," he
+said. "It would be a very small thing to let a personal dislike
+influence you in this."
+
+He spoke sternly. Adjusting his eyeglasses, he pulled some papers
+toward him, and Ralph, feeling that he desired the conversation to
+close, backed out of the office with a hasty good day. His face
+flushed at his uncle's implied rebuke, and he resolved that if there
+was any possible way, he would prove that his suspicion was right. He
+stopped at the post-office on his way home, to speak to the clerk
+again.
+
+"Billy," he said, in a confidential tone, "do a favour for me. Just
+drop a line to the postmaster at that address, will you, and ask him
+to tell you what he knows about a former resident of that place--one
+Alec Stoker? I'm hot on his track now, and I'm going to trace this
+thing out if it takes all the year."
+
+"Found out anything?" asked the clerk.
+
+"Ask me later," Ralph answered, with a knowing look. "It's a
+detective's policy to keep mum."
+
+So the poison of suspicion began its work. In a few days, the answer
+came to the clerk's letter. Alec Stoker was O. K. so far as the
+postmaster of Ridgeville knew. His grandfather had been one of the
+most highly respected citizens of the place, but--then followed an
+account of Alec's father. This the self-appointed young detective
+seized eagerly.
+
+"Humph! Thought there was bad blood somewhere!" he exclaimed. He took
+the report to his uncle, who read it gravely, and dismissed him with
+a short lecture on the cruelty of repeating such stories to the
+intentional hurt of a fellow creature. Stung to anger by this
+additional reproof, Ralph was more determined than before to prove
+that his suspicions were correct. He carried the letter to the
+president of the society, urging investigation.
+
+"No!" was the determined answer; "better lose a thousand times that
+amount than accuse him falsely. Because his father was dishonest is
+no proof that he is a thief. Drop it, Bently. Don't put a
+stumbling-block in the poor fellow's way by spreading such
+insinuations as that. He seems one of the most earnest and sincere
+members we ever had in the society."
+
+With a muttered reply about wolves in sheep's clothing, Ralph took
+his letter to the treasurer and secretary. Meeting the same response
+from them, he talked the matter over with some of the members, who
+were more willing to listen than the others, and less conscientious
+about repeating their surmises. So the poison spread and the story
+grew. It came to Alec's ears at last. There is always some
+thoughtless talebearer ready to gather up the arrows of gossip and
+thrust them into the quivering heart of the victim.
+
+Then the matter dropped so far as the society was concerned. Alec
+simply stayed away. Some there were who never noticed his absence.
+Some were confirmed in their suspicions by it. Ralph Bently declared
+that it was proof enough for him that Stoker felt guilty. If nothing
+was the matter, why should he have dropped out so suddenly when he
+had pretended all along to be so interested in the services and had
+taken such an active part in them?
+
+The president, noting his absence, promised himself to look him up
+sometime, but such promises, never finding definite dates, are never
+fulfilled. The member of the visiting committee who had called on
+Alec during his illness, and was really interested in him, started to
+call again. Something interrupted him, however, and he eased his
+conscience, which kept whispering that it was his duty to go, by
+sending him one of the printed invitations they always sent to
+strangers, cordially urging a regular attendance at the meetings.
+
+Then the society went selfishly on in its old channels, unmindful of
+the young life set adrift again in a sea of doubt and discouragement,
+with no hand held out to draw it back from the peril of shipwreck.
+The despairing mood that had settled down on Alec during the summer
+seized him again. He would work doggedly on during the day, thinking
+of Flip and his Aunt Eunice, and feeling that for their sakes he must
+stick bravely at it. There was no other position open to him. But it
+was almost intolerable staying in a town where people not only knew
+of his father's disgrace, but pointed accusing fingers at him. His
+sensitiveness on the subject made him grow more and more morbid. He
+brooded over it until he imagined that every one who happened to
+glance steadily in his direction must be saying, inwardly, "Like
+father, like son."
+
+He knew that Ralph Bently had gone to Mr. Windom with his
+information. The talebearer had given him an exaggerated account of
+the interview. He felt that there was no longer any use for him to
+hope the manager would ever raise him to the position of his trusted
+assistant, no matter how thoroughly he might learn the details of the
+business. For that reason he studied the newspapers for the
+advertisements of help wanted. He intended to make a change at the
+first opportunity.
+
+Once, crossing a street, he met the Windom carriage coming toward
+him. Avery, fair and gracious beside her mother, was bowing to an
+acquaintance. He started forward eagerly. He had not seen her since
+the last night he attended church, but the picture of her pure, sweet
+face, upturned like a white flower as she listened to the service,
+had been with him ever since. It had come before him many an evening
+when, with head bowed on his hands, he had leaned over the little
+table in his room, gazing intently into vacancy; it had laid a
+detaining hand on him when he would have flung out of the house in
+his desperation, in search of some diversion to keep him from
+brooding over his fate.
+
+Now they were almost face to face. Forgetting everything but his
+pleasure in seeing her once more, and remembering her smiling
+greetings in the past, his hand went up involuntarily toward his hat;
+but he stopped half-way, for, turning toward her mother just then,
+she called her attention to something on the other side of the
+street.
+
+"Just what I might have expected!" muttered Alec, thinking she
+purposely avoided him. His teeth were set and his face white with
+mortification. But in his heart he had not expected it. He had taken
+a vague comfort in the thought that she would believe in his
+innocence, no matter who else doubted. She had insisted so kindly on
+his never giving the lost money another thought.
+
+[Illustration: "HIS HAND WENT UP INVOLUNTARILY TOWARD HIS HAT."]
+
+If there had been only one accusation to deny, he could have gone to
+her with that, he thought. He would have compelled her to believe his
+innocence by the very force of his earnestness. But the knowledge of
+the accusation against his father silenced him.
+
+"Hello! You nearly knocked me down, Stoker. Where are you going?" It
+was one of the factory boys who asked the question, and Alec,
+hurrying down the street with unseeing eyes, became suddenly aware
+that he had run against some one who had caught him by the arm, and
+was laughingly shaking him to make him answer. "Where are you going?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know, and I don't care," was the reckless answer.
+
+"All right, come along if you want good company," was the joking
+reply, and the other boy, slipping his arm in Alec's, turned his
+steps to a corner where a jolly crowd were waiting for him to join
+them.
+
+After that there were no more lonely evenings for Alec, when he sat
+with bowed head beside his table, staring into vacancy. He should
+have had another promotion in March. Alec felt that he was proficient
+enough to be advanced, and he told himself bitterly that the reason
+he was not was because the manager mistrusted him.
+
+It was true that the manager did distrust him. Not on account of the
+suspicions which Ralph Bently had sowed broadcast, but because, made
+doubly watchful by the hint, he discovered how Alec was spending his
+evenings. Although the work in the factory was done as well as ever,
+he knew that no one could keep the company and late hours that Alec
+did and not fall short of the high standard he had set for the one
+who was ultimately to become his assistant.
+
+The months slipped slowly by. Philippa wrote that the garden was gay
+with spring crocuses and snowdrops; then that Ridgeville had never
+been such a bower of roses as it was that June. But to Alec the
+months were marked only by his little winnings and little losings.
+
+There came a time in the early autumn when Alec crept up the creaking
+stairs to his room, haggard and pale in the gray light of the
+breaking dawn. He had been out all night and lost not only all the
+money he had put away in the bank, the savings of seven endless
+months, but he was in debt for a greater sum than all his next
+month's salary would amount to.
+
+Heavy-eyed and dizzy from the long hours spent in the close little
+gambling den, reeking with stifling tobacco smoke, Alec dragged
+himself to his room. After he had closed the door, he stood leaning
+with his back against it for a moment. He was facing two pictures
+that gazed at him from the mantel: One was the patient, wistful face
+of his Aunt Eunice; the other was Philippa's, looking straight out at
+him with such honest, sincere eyes, such eager questioning, that he
+could not meet their clear gaze. He strode across the room and turned
+both faces to the wall. Then, without undressing, he threw himself on
+the bed with a groan.
+
+He was late reaching the factory that morning, for he fell asleep at
+once into a sleep of exhaustion, so deep that the usual sounds did
+not arouse him. As it was his first offence, the foreman passed it by
+in silence; but, faint from lack of food (there had been no time for
+breakfast), worn by the excitement and high nervous tension of the
+night before, he was in no condition to do his work. He made one
+mistake after another, until, made more nervous by repeated accidents
+both to the material and machinery he was handling, he made a blunder
+too serious to pass without a report to the manager. It involved the
+loss of considerable money to the company.
+
+"You'll be lucky if that mistake doesn't give you your walking
+papers," said the foreman. "You'll hear from it at the end of the
+month."
+
+If there had been only himself to consider, Alec would have welcomed
+his dismissal, but there was Flip and his Aunt Eunice. How they
+believed in him! How proud they were of him! Not for worlds would he
+have them know how far he had fallen short of their ideal of him. So
+for their sakes he waited in feverish anxiety to know the result.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+It was a rainy Sunday afternoon. A few lumps of coal burned in the
+dingy grate in Alec's room. He had slept for several hours, had
+finished reading his last library book, and now, as he clasped his
+hands behind his head, yawning lazily, he remembered that he had not
+written home for two weeks. Letter-writing had become a dreaded task
+now. What was there to tell them of himself that he cared for them to
+know? Only that he worked from seven until six, ate, slept, and rose
+to work again with the dreary monotony of a machine.
+
+For seven months he had not been inside a church door. The only
+people he met now were the workmen at the factory and the boys with
+whom he spent his evenings. He could not mention them. Long ago he
+had exhausted his descriptions of the city. There was nothing for him
+to write but that he was well and busy, and to fill up the pages with
+questions about the people at home. It taxed his ingenuity sometimes
+to evade Flip's straightforward questions, and he often thought that
+his letters had an insincere ring.
+
+"I wonder what they are doing at home now!" he exclaimed, looking
+thoughtfully into the coals. "It's just a year ago to-day that I
+left. I can't imagine them living in the new house. It's always the
+old sitting-room I see when I think of them. Mack is probably down on
+the hearth-rug, popping corn or roasting apples, and Flip's curled up
+in the chimney-seat, telling him stories. And Aunt Eunice--I know
+what she's doing; what she always does Sunday evening just at this
+time, when the twilight begins to fall. She has gone into her room
+and shut the door and knelt down by the big red rocking-chair that we
+used to be rocked to sleep in. And she's praying for us this very
+minute, and doesn't know that the dust is half an inch thick on my
+Bible, and that a prayer hasn't passed my lips since last February.
+Dear old Aunt Eunice!"
+
+An ache clutched his throat as he thought of her, and a tender mood,
+such as he had not known for weeks, rushed warm across him. One after
+another the old scenes rose up before him, until an overwhelming
+longing to see the well-known faces made the homesick tears start to
+his eyes.
+
+The twilight shadows deepened in the room, but, lost in the rush of
+tender memories, he forgot everything save the pictures that seemed
+to rise before him out of the glowing embers in the grate. In the
+midst of his reverie, there was a noise on the stairs--a familiar
+noise, although he had not heard it for months, a tread and a double
+tap, as if a foot and two canes were coming up the steps.
+
+"Old Jimmy Scott!" thought Alec, looking round as if awakening from a
+dream and discovering that the room was nearly dark; he stirred the
+fire until it burst into cheerful flames.
+
+"Well!" he exclaimed, cordially, throwing open the door in answer to
+old Jimmy's knock, "of all people! Did you rain down? Here I sat in
+the dumps, feeling that I hadn't a friend in the town. Come in! Come
+in!"
+
+He pulled a chair hospitably toward the grate for his guest, and put
+another lump of coal on the fire.
+
+"Knew you'd be surprised to see me a day like this," said the old
+soldier, thrusting his foot toward the blaze; "but I've been
+intending to look you up for some time. Kind o' had a drawing in this
+direction. Thinks I, when I felt it, wonder if he's sick and needs
+me. When I have feelings like that, I usually pay attention to 'em."
+
+They talked of various things for the next quarter of an hour; of the
+weather, the new city hall, the approaching elections; but they were
+both ill at ease. It seemed to Alec that the old man's heart was not
+in the conversation; that he was only trying to pave the way to some
+other topic. Finally a pause fell between them. Alec rose to put
+another lump of coal on the fire, and old Jimmy, looking round the
+room, noticed the two photographs on the mantel with their faces
+turned to the wall. He knew well enough whose pictures they were.
+During Alec's convalescence he had studied them many a time while he
+listened to the homesick boy's enthusiastic description of his sister
+and the aunt who had been like a mother to him.
+
+As Alec took his chair again, he saw the old man's surprised glance
+at the pictures. Then their eyes met. Alec flushed guiltily.
+
+"Something's wrong, boy," said old Jimmy, tenderly. "I knew it.
+That's why I felt moved to come. Seemed as if the Lord put it in my
+heart that I must. There's special services going on at Grace Church
+this week. Something in the evangelist's sermon this morning made me
+feel that I'd got to speak to somebody before nightfall--stir up
+somebody to a better life--or I'd be held accountable. Then all of a
+sudden I began to think of you, so I came up to ask if you wouldn't
+go to hear him to-night. But I see now that it's more than an
+invitation to church you need. You're in trouble, or you never would
+have done that." He nodded toward the pictures. "What is it?"
+
+Alec hesitated a minute, and old Jimmy, reaching over, laid a
+sympathetic hand on his shoulder. Something in the friendly touch
+brought a swift rush of tears to Alec's eyes. He was so homesick and
+lonely, and it seemed so good to have some one to talk with who was
+really interested in him. Dropping his face in his hands and leaning
+forward with his elbows on his knees, he blurted out his trouble in
+broken sentences.
+
+[Illustration: "HE BLURTED OUT HIS TROUBLE IN BROKEN SENTENCES."]
+
+He told the whole story, beginning with the missing coin; Ralph
+Bently's insinuations and subsequent endeavour to fasten suspicion on
+him; the disclosure of his father's disgrace; the gossip that had
+caused him to drop out of the society and church, where he felt that
+he was no longer wanted. Finally the habits he had fallen into, and
+the money he had lost, and the foreman's prophecy of his discharge
+from the factory at the end of the month.
+
+"I tried to do right," he said in conclusion. "I had tried all my
+life. I joined the church when I was no older than Mack, and I lived
+just as straight as I knew how. But after that--when every one cut
+me--it didn't seem as if it was any use. I just lost faith in
+everything and gave up trying. I used to believe in Aunt Eunice's
+idea of the eternal goodness. It made me feel so safe, somehow, to
+think that, no matter what happened, we could never--
+
+                 "'Drift beyond His love and care.'"
+
+That He had set islands for us to come across at every turn. You
+know. You remember that little map I made when I was getting well.
+One of the islands was named for you, and one was the Isle of Roses,
+because those flowers the Christian Endeavour society sent seemed to
+put new courage into me, and led to the acquaintances and friendships
+that helped me so much while I had them.
+
+"But I've lost that feeling now. I'm cut loose from everything, and
+you don't know how terribly adrift I feel. I'm just whirled along
+from day to day, till I've almost come to the place it tells about in
+Job, where there's nothing left to do but 'curse God and die.'"
+
+As he paused, old Jimmy's voice broke in with hearty cheerfulness,
+"Why, bless you, my boy, you're all in a fog. And do you know the
+reason? You haven't the right Pilot aboard any more.
+
+"The 'islands' are all round you, just the same, put there on purpose
+for you, but you let the devil get his hand at the wheel, and he
+keeps you steered away from 'em. You say you stopped praying? That
+very moment he got aboard and took possession. You quit trusting the
+Lord the instant you got into deep water.
+
+"You made a mistake when you let anybody's gossip run you out of the
+church or the society. You ought to have stayed and lived it down!
+That's the only thing for you to do now; go back and begin again and
+make people believe in your innocence. It will be hard for you, and
+powerfully awkward, for you have more than your share of pride and
+sensitiveness, but it's the only manly thing to do."
+
+"Oh, I _couldn't_ go back!" groaned Alec. "I believe I'd rather die
+first. If it had only been what they said about me, I might have done
+it, but I couldn't face what they'd continually be thinking about my
+father. I could never live that down."
+
+"Yes, you can! If you'll only put yourself entirely in the Lord's
+hands, He'll furnish the strength for you to do whatever is right.
+You've come to a crisis, Alec Stoker. You've got to fight it out
+right now, which is to have control of the rest of your life, God or
+the devil."
+
+There was a long silence. Presently, in a voice choked with emotion,
+the old man said, "Kneel down, son; I want to pray with you."
+Together they knelt in the darkening room.
+
+For a long time after old Jimmy took his leave, Alec sat gazing into
+the flickering fire, as the room grew dimmer and dimmer. Then, urged
+on by some impulse almost beyond his control, he slipped on his
+overcoat and hurried out into the street. When he reached the
+vestibule at the side door of the church, he stood a moment with his
+hand on the latch. His courage had suddenly failed him. He would go
+back home and wait until another time, he told himself. The service
+must be nearly over.
+
+But just then some one struck a few soft chords on the piano, and a
+full, clear voice began to sing. It was Avery's voice, and she sang
+with all the pleading earnestness of a prayer:
+
+              "Jesus, Saviour, pilot me
+               Over life's tempestuous sea!
+               Unknown waves before me roll,
+               Hiding rock and treacherous shoal;
+               Chart and compass come from thee:
+               Jesus, Saviour, pilot me."
+
+Out in the darkness, the storm-tossed, homesick boy stood listening,
+till his whole soul seemed to go out in that one cry, "Jesus,
+Saviour, pilot me!" It was a complete surrender of self, and as he
+whispered the words a peace that he had never known before, a great
+peace he could not understand, seemed to fold him safe in its
+keeping.
+
+As the last words of the song died away, he opened the door and
+walked in. If there was surprise on the faces of many, he did not see
+it. If it was a departure from the usual custom, he never stopped to
+consider it. The evangelist who had charge of the service stood for a
+final word of exhortation, asking if there were not many who could
+make that song their own, and offer it as a prayer of consecration.
+
+It was never quite clear to Alec afterward just what he said then.
+But as he told of the struggle he had just been through, and in
+broken sentences made a public confession of his faith, eyes grew
+dim, and hearts already touched by the song were strangely thrilled
+and stirred. Afterward the members came crowding round him with a
+warm welcome, and he carried away with him the remembrance of many a
+hearty hand-clasp. One of them was Mr. Windom's. He rarely attended
+the young people's meetings, and to-night had come only to hear his
+daughter sing. If he had had any misgivings as to the boy's sincerity
+of purpose before, every doubt was cleared away as he listened to his
+manly confession of faith, and looked into his happy face, almost
+transformed with the hope that illuminated it.
+
+It was Thanksgiving Day. Alec, home on his first vacation, stood in
+front of the open fire, watching Philippa set the table for their
+little feast. He had talked late the night before, and told of the
+many changes that had taken place during the last two months. He was
+in the office now, and his salary had been raised sufficiently to
+enable him to take a room in a comfortable boarding-house. Since his
+conversion, Mr. Windom had taken several occasions to show Alec that
+he trusted him implicitly.
+
+Radiant in her joy at having her brother home again, Philippa kept
+breaking into little snatches of song whenever there was a pause in
+the conversation. She thought she had never known such a happy
+Thanksgiving.
+
+"How nice and homelike it all is!" Alec exclaimed, sniffing the
+savoury odours that rushed in from the kitchen, of turkey and mince
+turnovers, whenever Aunt Eunice opened the oven door. "And how good
+it seems to hear you singing like that, Flip!"
+
+"Do you remember the day you told me that it set your teeth on edge
+to hear me singing that hymn?" asked Philippa, laughingly.
+
+"Yes, but that was because I was all out of tune myself. Everything
+is different now. Since I've given up trying to do my own piloting,
+it seems to me that I come across one of His 'islands' nearly every
+day." As he spoke, Macklin came running up on the porch, stamping the
+snow from his feet, and burst into the house, his cheeks as red as
+winter apples.
+
+"Here's a letter for you, Alec!" he cried. "Where's my hammer, Flip?
+I want to crack some of those nuts we gathered on purpose for
+to-day."
+
+She brought him the hammer, and he hurried away. Alec was turning the
+dainty blue envelope over in his hands.
+
+The address was written in the same hand as the card which had come
+nearly a year ago with the Christian Endeavour roses. He tore open
+the envelope, glanced at the monogram, then down the page, and turned
+to Philippa with a long-drawn whistle. "I wish you'd listen to this!"
+he exclaimed.
+
+    "DEAR MR. STOKER:--I am writing this in the hope that it
+    will reach you on Thanksgiving Day. You have suffered so
+    much on account of that miserable gold piece of mine, it
+    is only fair that you should have this explanation at once.
+
+    "This afternoon Miss Cornish and I went to the church to
+    practise a new song that I am to sing at the Thanksgiving
+    service. She was to play my accompaniments. The side door
+    of the church was open, for the florist was decorating the
+    altar, so we did not need to use the minister's latch-key,
+    which we had borrowed for the occasion. We practised for
+    some time, and then sat and talked until it was almost dark.
+    When we started home, we found to our dismay that the
+    janitor, thinking we had gone, had double-locked the door
+    for the night with his big key. Our little latch-key was then
+    of no use.
+
+    "We called and pounded until we were desperate. I had an
+    engagement for dinner, and could not afford to lose any time.
+    Finally we went into the prayer-meeting room, and found that
+    we could open one of the panes in the great stained-glass
+    window at the side. Miss Cornish climbed up on one of those
+    old pulpit chairs that the officers use, and said that if she
+    could lean out through the pane, she would call to the first
+    one who passed, and ask him to bring the janitor to our
+    release.
+
+    "But some way, in climbing, Miss Cornish caught her high heel
+    in the plush with which the seat is upholstered. The goods is
+    frayed and old. The chair tipped, and they both came to the
+    floor with a bang. Just as I sprang to catch her, something
+    bright and round rolled out of the chair toward me and dropped
+    right at my feet.
+
+    "It was that unlucky gold coin, which must have slipped under
+    the plush in some way when you counted the money on it that
+    night.
+
+    "It was so late when we were finally rescued that I could not
+    keep my dinner engagement. I am glad for one reason; it gives
+    me time to write this now. I know that it will make your
+    Thanksgiving brighter to know this, and I am sure that it is
+    needless for me to say that I never for an instant connected
+    the disappearance of the coin with you in any way. I regret
+    extremely the silly gossip that wounded you so sorely, and
+    want to tell you how much I respect the manly way in which
+    you have since met and answered it.
+
+    "Wishing you a happy Thanksgiving with your family, I am
+
+                                "Sincerely your friend,
+
+                                          "AVERY WINDOM."
+
+[Illustration: "'IT WAS THAT UNLUCKY GOLD COIN.'"]
+
+Philippa, watching his face as he read, came up to him when he had
+finished, and put a hand on each shoulder.
+
+"Alec," she said, with the straightforwardness of sixteen, "that
+means a lot to you, doesn't it, that she should write that she is
+'sincerely your friend'?"
+
+"Yes," he answered, honestly; "a very great deal."
+
+"Do you suppose it would stand in the way, sometime, when you are
+older, you know, and have made a place for yourself in the world, her
+knowing about--about father?"
+
+"I don't know, Flip," he answered, slowly; "I've often wondered about
+that."
+
+Through the open door came Aunt Eunice's voice, singing jubilantly:
+
+                  "I know not what the future hath
+                       Of marvel or surprise,
+                   Assured alone that life and death
+                       His mercy underlies."
+
+"How that old hymn answers everything!" Alec said, softly. "No matter
+what lies ahead, it's all right now. God's at the helm, little
+sister! I shall find all the 'islands' he has set for me."
+
+                              THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Flip's "Islands of Providence", by
+Annie Fellows Johnston
+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #25978 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25978)