IG 
 
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 treet 
 
 I .T.THURSTON
 
 34 9 B
 
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 THE BIG BROTHER 
 OF SABIN STREET 
 
 . OF CALIF. LIBRARY. LOS
 
 The Bishop's Shadow" Books 
 
 By L T. THURSTON 
 Each Illustrated, J2mo, Cloth 
 
 Billy Burns of Troop 5 
 
 Here is a Boy Scout's story which has to do with 
 the average boy of the city. Like " The Bishop's 
 Shadow " and " The Scout Master of Troop 5," it is 
 fresh, breezy, clear-cut and catchy a fine, strong, 
 earnest, lucid book, written with the idea of helping 
 boys to do their parts in the world's work. The 
 author's wonderful insight into the boy nature and 
 knowledge of his ways of work and recreation is 
 here apparent 
 
 The Scout Master of Troop 5 
 
 " The daily life of the city boys from whom the 
 scouts are recruited is related, and the succession of 
 experiences afterward coming delightfully to them 
 country hikes, camp life, exploring expeditions, and 
 the finding of real hidden treasure." N. Y. Sun. 
 
 The Big Brother of Sabin Street 
 
 Containing the story of Theodore Bryan 
 (The BUhop's Shadow) 
 
 This volume is the sequel to the Story of Theo- 
 dore Bryan, The Bishop's Shadow, 1 which came 
 into prominence as a classic among boys' books and 
 was written to supply the urgent demand for a story 
 continuing the account of Theodore's work among 
 the boys." Western Recorder. 
 
 The Bishop's Shadow 
 
 A captivating story of dear Phillips Brooks and 
 a little street gamin of Boston. The book sets forth 
 the almost matchless character of the Christlike 
 bishop in most loving and lovely lines." 
 
 The interior.
 
 Then ho arose and went out into the night 
 
 see pp. (!}
 
 THE BIG BROTHER 
 OF SABIN STREET 
 
 Continuing the Story of 
 
 TH EODORE BRYAN 
 "THE BISHOP'S SHADOW" 
 
 By 
 I. T. THURSTON 
 
 Illustrated by 
 FRANK LLOYD ROSE 
 
 Niw Your CHICAGO TOBONTO 
 
 Fleming H. Revell Company 
 
 LONDON AND EDINBURGH
 
 Copyright, 1909, by 
 FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 
 
 New York: 158 Fifth Avenue 
 Chicago: 17 N. Wabash Ave. 
 Toronto: 25 Richmond St., W. 
 London: 21 Paternoster Square 
 Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 FAGI 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. HARVARD vs. PRINCETON . 7 
 
 II. IN THE DEPTHS 2 3 
 
 III. A LOST YEAR 4 2 
 
 IV. RECALLED 54 
 
 V. A YEAR OF WAITING . . . 7 1 
 
 VI. GREEN TREE HOUSE . .81 
 
 VII. " KNIGHTS " IN THE ROUGH . 106 
 
 VIII. TOMMY O'BRIEN . I2 3 
 
 IX. MRS. KNOWLES' GUESTS . . J 37 
 
 X. CHRISTMAS ON SABIN STREET . 165 
 
 XL BELLA 182 
 
 XII. THE SEED OF THE CRUSADE . . 202 
 
 XIII. MARJORIE'S CALL TO SERVICE . 226 
 
 XIV. GATHERING UP THE THREADS . 25 2 
 XV. BRADY AND OTHERS . . . 262 
 
 XVI. BRYAN'S KNIGHTS . . .281 
 
 XVII. THE CLIMAX 2 93 
 
 XVIII. THE RESULTS OF THE CRUSADE . 3 2 
 
 EPILOGUE . . . 33 1 
 
 2133205
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FACING 
 PAGE 
 
 Then he arose and went out into the night . . Title 
 
 Bryan took the pen and . . . for a long minute 
 
 he held it suspended over the paper ... 51 
 
 Long and hungrily his eyes dwelt on the strong, 
 earnest face . . . the idol of his neglected 
 boyhood, the ideal of his later days ... 63 
 
 " I'll get you free, never you doubt that " . . 69 
 
 Then the black head and the sandy one together 
 
 bent over it with eager interest . . . in 
 
 " Oh, it's Tony it's Tony Trudo " . . . .130 
 
 She helped Mrs. Knowles with her dainty cooking 
 
 and housekeeping 190
 
 I 
 
 HARVARD VS. PRINCETON 
 
 THERE he is! That's Bryan the big 
 fellow at the end." 
 
 Before the words were fairly out of 
 his mouth the speaker was on his feet shouting 
 the Harvard yell with all the power of his strong 
 young lungs. Six others in the same row 
 shouted in chorus, their crimson badges flaring 
 vividly conspicuous among the black and yellow 
 that almost everybody else was wearing but 
 their cry, lusty though it was, was drowned in 
 the overwhelming outburst of Princeton yells. 
 The great hall rang with the tumultuous medley 
 of shouts, cheers, yells, whistles, and snatches of 
 song, while the president of Princeton and the 
 other members of the faculty, the judges, and a 
 few honoured guests were finding their places on 
 the platform. 
 
 On the four young men standing together near 
 the centre of the platform two wearing Prince- 
 ton colours and two the crimson of Harvard all 
 eyes were centred, for these were the orators of 
 the occasion. Which would win the honours in 
 the debate Princeton or Harvard? That was 
 the question that a thousand eager young fellows 
 7
 
 8 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 were asking themselves or each other with an 
 anxiety out of all proportion to the importance of 
 the issue. 
 
 The president in his silk gown lifted his 
 hand, and slowly the excited clamour lessened, 
 then died into reluctant silence a tense silence 
 a-thrill with eager life. The very atmosphere 
 of the great hall was vibrant and tingling with 
 life. 
 
 Down there in the seat directly back of the 
 seven who wore the Harvard red, a girl caught 
 her breath sharply, the colour coming and go- 
 ing in her cheeks as she looked about her. The 
 hall, aglow with light and colour, was filled to its 
 utmost capacity. On the floor, the black coats of 
 the men served but to emphasise the rich, many- 
 coloured costumes of the ladies. And girls 
 girls were there in almost as great numbers as the 
 students, or so one would have thought until his 
 glance reached the galleries, which were simply 
 packed with boys and young men. At a first 
 glance the galleries seemed to be profusely dec- 
 orated with the college colours, but the decora- 
 tions presently resolved into sweaters of black 
 and yellow, worn by two out of every three of 
 the students. 
 
 The girl down in front leaned forward and 
 spoke to a young fellow the one who had 
 pointed out Bryan to her. 
 
 " Oh, Ted," she whispered, " isn't it splendid ! 
 I'm so glad you coaxed Uncle Edward to bring 
 me."
 
 HARVARD VS. PRINCETON 9 
 
 Ted turned a glowing face over his shoulder. 
 " You'll be gladder yet before ten o'clock," he 
 exulted, " but those Tigers in the gallery won't be 
 so lively then. Our fellows are going to walk 
 all over 'em you hear me!" 
 
 " Hush, we must be quiet now," the girl an- 
 swered, as the dignified president began to 
 speak. 
 
 She had attended many college " occasions " be- 
 fore this girl. Her cousin Ted was always 
 proud to take her whenever she would go with 
 him but never had she been at anything like 
 this, where the atmosphere seemed so electric 
 with the college spirit. When the first of the 
 Princeton men stepped forward to open the de- 
 bate, the galleries rose in a body and cheered him 
 till the rafters shook. The silence that followed 
 seemed almost unnatural after that whirlwind of 
 sound. One could hear now and then a quick 
 breath, an eager sigh, as the strong young voice 
 went steadily on, interrupted now and then by a 
 sudden burst of applause when some particularly 
 telling point was made applause promptly 
 hushed, that no sentence might be lost. 
 
 It was a good speech, clear, strong, and 
 thoughtful, and again the galleries cheered to 
 the echo as the speaker took his seat, but Ted 
 Marston turned to his cousin, his eyes shining 
 happily. 
 
 " Oh, Ted, if they should win Princeton " 
 
 the girl breathed. 
 
 " Don't you worry, Marjorie, they won't," he
 
 10 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 assured her. "Evans is better than that chap, 
 and we've got Bryan don't you forget that." 
 
 The girl's eyes turned to the platform. 
 
 "Is he so fine Bryan?" she questioned. 
 " One wouldn't think so, to look at him. He 
 looks just big and quiet." 
 
 " Big and quiet ! " Ted scoffed. " He's big all 
 right look at his shoulders and he's quiet usu- 
 ally, but when he gets waked up Have I told 
 you what they call him at Harvard ? " 
 
 "No. What?" 
 
 " The White Flame." 
 
 "Why?" the girl questioned. 
 
 " Because he won't stand for anything that isn't 
 square and white anything, no matter who or 
 what. Ah, now for Evans." He leaned forward. 
 " Yell for all you're worth, boys ! " he cried. 
 
 And they did yell for all they were worth, 
 those seven who wore the crimson. The noise 
 they made was out of all proportion to their num- 
 bers, and after a moment the galleries joined in, 
 and Evans bowed his acknowledgments before 
 he began to speak. 
 
 But as he went on Marjorie Armstrong lis- 
 tened with growing fear. To her he seemed far 
 less convincing than the first speaker ; and though 
 the audience gave him close attention, she noticed 
 that there was very little applause, and what there 
 was came mostly from Ted and his comrades. 
 She turned doubtful, questioning eyes to Ted as 
 Evans took his seat. 
 
 " Don't you worry, Marjie," Ted assured her
 
 HARVARD VS. PRINCETON 11 
 
 again, as he unconsciously rubbed his smarting 
 hands. " Evans finished up that chap all right, 
 all right and they all know it too." 
 
 " But he got so little applause," Marjorie ob- 
 jected. 
 
 Ted's smile was quite undisturbed. " Of 
 course. Suppose they're going to crow when 
 their own man is getting the worst of it ? " 
 
 The girl's face brightened, then kindled with 
 quick response as " Old Nassau " rang out in 
 full-throated chorus from the galleries. 
 
 " Huh ! " grunted Ted disdainfully. " I'd like 
 to give 'em ' Fair Harvard.' " 
 
 " Oh, how I wish you could ! " breathed the girl. 
 " But, Ted, it's splendid to hear them sing like 
 that, isn't it ? You can just feel how they love it." 
 
 "Love what?" mocked Ted, his chin lifted 
 disdainfully. 
 
 " Why, the college and and everything. Oh, 
 how much it must mean to boys four years in 
 such a college ! " 
 
 " You bet it does ! I wouldn't give up my four 
 
 years at old Harvard " He choked suddenly, 
 
 and the girl saw that his eyes were full of tears. 
 She turned to the gentleman on her right. 
 
 " Uncle Ned," she asked eagerly, " did you 
 think that Evans made a better speech than the 
 Princeton man ? " 
 
 Mr. Marston smiled down into the glowing 
 face and shining eyes. 
 
 " Of course he did no question about it, is 
 there, dad ? " Ted broke in eagerly.
 
 12 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 " The Princeton man was the better speaker," 
 Mr. Marston said, " but your man, Ted, had the 
 best of the argument, in my judgment." 
 
 " Of course he was on the right side, but he 
 could have walked all over that Tiger, anyhow," 
 Ted flung back, and his father laughed as he an- 
 swered : 
 
 " For Harvard, right or wrong that's your 
 attitude, Ted." 
 
 " Oh, pshaw ! But he was all right," Ted in- 
 sisted; then he flung an impatient glance at the 
 galleries where hundreds of vigorous young 
 voices joined now in the " Orange and Black." 
 
 " Oh, oh! If they don't stop I shall have to 
 sing that chorus myself!" cried Marjorie, her 
 foot keeping time to the ringing notes. 
 
 " Don't you dare! " Ted fairly glowered at her. 
 " Let me catch you singing Tiger music when 
 Harvard boys are around ! " 
 
 She turned to him a sparkling, defiant face, 
 and then lifted her voice with the rest, for every- 
 body was singing now, while Ted frowned and 
 turned his back on her. 
 
 The second Princeton man was fine, even Ted 
 grudgingly admitted that so fine that a shade of 
 anxiety crept into Ted's confident eyes, but he 
 would not admit in words that he was anxious. 
 
 "Just you wait till you hear Bryan," he as- 
 sured his father and Marjorie, over and over. 
 " He isn't flowery like this chap, but he's got the 
 level head all right, and his voice oh, well, you'll 
 see."
 
 HARVARD VS. PRINCETON 13 
 
 " Anybody'd think he was a new Wendell 
 Phillips, or Henry Ward Beecher, to hear you," 
 teased the girl. 
 
 " Your friend will have to do more than well 
 to surpass that. I call that a remarkably fine 
 address for a student," Mr. Marston commented, 
 while the hall was again ringing with applause. 
 
 The anxiety deepened in Ted's eyes, but he 
 still stoutly maintained his faith in Bryan. 
 
 When at last Bryan rose and stepped for- 
 ward, the place was very still. He was the only 
 one of the four who had not been greeted with 
 applause even Ted forgot to cheer, so intensely 
 anxious was he lest Bryan should not " make 
 good " on this great occasion. 
 
 There was nothing particularly noticeable in 
 the young man. He was rather plain than other- 
 wise, but tall and well-developed; he gave the 
 impression of perfect physical condition, and 
 before he had been speaking five minutes, no one 
 in that audience could have questioned his men- 
 tal power. His language was simple not " flow- 
 ery," as Ted had said but his arguments were 
 clear, strong, convincing, and his voice had some 
 subtle quality that made it a delight to listen to 
 him. 
 
 As he went on, Ted's face began to glow again, 
 and even Marjorie lost her anxiety as to the re- 
 sult. It seemed to her that everybody must see 
 that Bryan's arguments were unanswerable. 
 
 The audience listened in a breathless silence, 
 broken now and then by a sudden burst of ap-
 
 14 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 plause, swiftly hushed, for Bryan went on quite 
 regardless of such tokens of approval. But when 
 his speech was ended, the sentiment of his audi- 
 ence was expressed in no uncertain fashion. 
 Again and again the applause broke forth, and if 
 it was not quite as hearty in the galleries as on 
 the floor, who could blame the boys in black and 
 yellow, who saw the honours likely to be carried 
 away from their beloved Princeton? 
 
 But they rallied while the judges were out 
 those lusty young fellows in the galleries and 
 again the strains of " Nassau," " The Triangle," 
 and " The Orange and Black " rang out with 'a 
 swing that there was no resisting. It was a 
 long wait perhaps after all their fears were 
 unfounded the judges might decide for Prince- 
 ton. With a growing hope, the hearts of the 
 Princeton % boys softened towards those seven 
 down in front flaunting so confidently their odi- 
 ous crimson ribbons, and suddenly a voice from 
 the gallery shouted: 
 
 " Guests, sing," and instantly scores of voices 
 echoed the cry, " Guests, sing guests, sing ' Fair 
 Harvard ' ! " 
 
 The seven on the floor of the hall flashed at 
 each other swift glances of amazement; then 
 their faces brightened, and with heads together 
 they exchanged a hurried whisper, and then, 
 standing in their places those few in the midst 
 of " the hostile hosts "they sang " Fair Har- 
 vard." 
 
 Marjorie found her lips quivering and had
 
 HARVARD VS. PRINCETON 15 
 
 much ado to keep back the tears as the tender, 
 pathetic little air rang out in the tense silence 
 of that crowded house, her cousin's clear voice 
 leading. Just a single stanza they sang, and then, 
 as the judges filed back all else was forgotten as 
 every ear was trained to catch the word that 
 meant so much to many. Impatiently they lis- 
 tened to the compliments that were bestowed on 
 both sides till at last came the announcement 
 for Harvard. 
 
 Before the word was fairly spoken, Ted Mar- 
 ston was standing on his seat, and the next in- 
 stant he had whipped out a banner of crimson 
 silk and was waving it exultantly above his 
 head. 
 
 There was a second of absolute stillness, a 
 stillness that could be felt, as friend and foe 
 alike stared with caught breath at that red ban- 
 ner waving in Alexander Hall! 
 
 The Harvard boys broke the spell with a burst 
 of exultant cheers cheers for Bryan, for Evans, 
 for old Harvard. It seemed incredible that seven 
 boys could make so much noise but almost at 
 once the audience joined in, and finally even the 
 gallery hosts began to swell the chorus. Then 
 there was a rush and a scramble, and the Harvard 
 seven were on the platform hugging their two 
 heroes, slapping them on the back, shaking their 
 hands all talking at once, and nobody listening. 
 
 But down on the floor, Marjorie watching, lis- 
 tening, lifted a radiant face, as she cried out, 
 " Oh, Uncle Ned, what a thing it is this college
 
 16 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 spirit ! I wonder if it is like this in girls' colleges. 
 If I thought it was, I'd go myself I would 
 truly." 
 
 Mr. Marston did not answer; he was watch- 
 ing those wildly excited boys swarming around 
 Bryan. " I suppose we shall have to wait here 
 till those foolish fellows come to their senses. 
 Any one would think Harvard never won a de- 
 bate before," he grumbled, but his eyes were 
 tender. 
 
 " Uncle Ned, you're a fraud," the girl de- 
 clared. " You are just as delighted as Ted him- 
 self, I know you are. Oh, he is bringing Bryan 
 here!" 
 
 " And full time he did, too," said Ted's father. 
 
 Marjorie felt a shade of disappointment when 
 she met her cousin's hero. He was so plain and 
 so quiet, and he did not seem to care at all for her 
 congratulations. The girl drew herself up with 
 a little disapproving frown, and then turned to 
 some of the other boys, who were only too proud 
 to claim her attention. But their time was limited 
 for they were to take the night train back to Bos- 
 ton, and soon they were off, escorted by a delega- 
 tion of Princetonians, anxious to show due cour- 
 tesy to their guests in spite of their disappoint- 
 ment at the result of the debate. 
 
 " Did you like Mr. Bryan, uncle ? " Marjorie 
 inquired, as they walked over to their hotel. 
 The answer surprised her greatly. 
 
 " Like him ? I didn't think whether or not I 
 liked him, but if money can get him, I mean to
 
 HARVARD VS. PRINCETON 17 
 
 have that young man in my office. If I am any 
 judge of men, he has the qualities that will carry 
 him far, and I'm always on the lookout for that 
 kind of timber." 
 
 The girl lifted her pretty chin disdainfully. 
 " He may make a good business man, but he'll 
 never be a gentleman," she declared with em- 
 phasis. 
 
 " A gentleman ! " Mr. Marston echoed. 
 " Child, some time you will learn that a man 
 is worth more than a gentleman your notion 
 of a gentleman." 
 
 When Ted came home for the Easter holidays, 
 his father and Marjorie learned much more about 
 Bryan. Ted was always ready to talk about him, 
 and his father seemed equally ready to listen ; 
 while Marjorie asserted, with a little mocking 
 smile, that she had to listen for Ted couldn't 
 talk about any one or anything else. 
 
 " And I'm not the only one," Ted flung back 
 at her. " You just ought to hear the dean go 
 on about him ! I've heard him say more than 
 once that Bryan's influence has been a power for 
 good at Harvard. The undergrads all swear by 
 him." 
 
 "But why? What makes them all think so 
 much of him ? " Marjorie questioned with a sort 
 of reluctant curiosity. 
 
 " Why ? Because he's as straight as a string, 
 and does his best to keep every other fellow 
 straight. He loves old Harvard well, of course 
 we all do that but it's different with Bryan.
 
 18 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 He has a higher standard than most of us. You 
 see his whole life has been different. He began 
 with a high ideal when he was just a little kid, 
 and he tried to live up to that because well, may- 
 be, because he didn't have anything but that in 
 his life." 
 
 " Go back to the beginning and tell us the 
 whole story, Ted. I mean to get hold of that 
 young man, and I want to know all about him," 
 Mr. Marston said. 
 
 Ted pulled himself bolt upright and stared 
 across at his father. 
 
 " Get hold of Bryan you ? What for, busi- 
 ness ? " he demanded. 
 
 His father nodded. " Of course. The busi- 
 ness wants young men with brains and back- 
 bone, and they're none too easy to find." 
 
 " Bryan has the brains and backbone, all right, 
 and more too, but you won't get him, father not 
 ever." Ted's tone was final. 
 
 Mr. Marston smiled, quite undisturbed. " You 
 think not?" 
 
 " I know not," Ted declared. " You couldn't 
 tempt him if you should offer him ten thousand 
 a year." 
 
 " You seem very positive. Has he settled 
 plans for his future ? " 
 
 "You bet he has." Ted looked at his father 
 with a curious expression in his merry blue 
 eyes. " He is going to be a preacher," he added 
 slowly. 
 
 Mr. Marston threw back his head and
 
 HARVARD VS. PRINCETON 19 
 
 laughed. Ted flushed, the light of battle flaming 
 suddenly in his eyes. 
 
 " Oh, you can laugh, dad, but all the 'same you 
 won't get him. You don't know Teddy Bryan 
 and I do." 
 
 " Teddy? So his name is the same as yours? " 
 questioned Marjorie, who had been listening with 
 an interest that surprised herself. 
 
 " No, his name is Theodore, but we call him 
 Teddy sometimes," her cousin answered ; then he 
 faced his father again and spoke gravely. " Look 
 here, daddy, I'll tell you about Bryan how he 
 came to be the kind of chap he is. The dean 
 Professor Wylie told me the story one day not 
 long ago. How he heard it all I don't know, for 
 Bryan's the last fellow to talk about himself he's 
 always too busy thinking about somebody else. 
 The dean said that Bryan was a regular little 
 street tough no home, no people, no anything, 
 when somehow or other he fell in with that great 
 bishop that everybody loved. I don't know just 
 how Bryan came to know him, but anyhow he 
 did. It was the first good man he ever had 
 known and, little guttersnipe as he was, I guess 
 he just about worshipped him, and when he died 
 the bishop well," Ted's voice grew suddenly 
 husky, " Bryan was all broken up over it at first ; 
 and then he set himself to live as he thought his 
 great man would have wanted him to live. It 
 was a pretty plucky thing for such a forlorn little 
 chap to undertake such a contract as that, don't 
 you think ? " Ted's boyish face was very grave
 
 20 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 and earnest now. He had forgotten Marjorie 
 forgotten everything but the story he was telling. 
 " You can just imagine what a steady up-hill 
 pull it must have been for years / don't see how 
 he ever stuck it out, but he did. He hadn't a cent 
 except what he earned himself, but he managed 
 to pick up a living and all the while lend a hand 
 to other fellows like himself. He made friends, 
 and somehow he got a boys' club started and he 
 has kept it going all these years. He went to an 
 evening school, and when he made up his mind 
 that he was going to be a minister, then he began 
 to save up money for college. How do you sup- 
 pose he ever did it the poor, lonesome little 
 chap ? Wylie said he had only two hundred dol- 
 lars when he entered Harvard; but he opened a 
 dining-room, made a specialty of chops and sea 
 foods, and now his place has a splendid run of 
 custom college custom mostly." 
 
 " But how can he carry on a place like that and 
 attend to his studies ? " Mr. Marston inquired. 
 
 " Just by sheer digging," Ted responded. " Of 
 course, he has a manager for his dining-rooms 
 a fellow named Hunt and you see Bryan knows 
 how to plan and manage and make others do 
 things as he wants them done." 
 
 Mr. Marston nodded. "That's the kind," he said. 
 
 " But I don't see how a fellow like that can 
 have any great influence over such young men 
 as many that go to Harvard," Marjorie put in, 
 " rich men's sons, and those belonging to good 
 families "
 
 HARVARD VS. PRINCETON 21 
 
 Ted faced her indignantly. " Well, I guess 
 even rich men's sons know enough to appreciate 
 such a rare fellow as Bryan," he declared. " Be- 
 sides he's helped lots of 'em out of scrapes, and 
 kept them out of scraps, and fairly made them 
 some of them do the right thing. Why, there's 
 one fellow he's got money to burn and he isn't 
 a bad chap at bottom, but he's weak as water. 
 Any scamp can lead him into mischief, and there 
 are plenty ready to since he's so free with his 
 money. Well, sir," Ted faced his father again, 
 " Bryan has stuck to that fellow like a brother, 
 hauled him out of saloons and gaming places, 
 saved him from disgrace times without number, 
 and just forced him to knuckle down to work. 
 And Blake the fellow's name is Billy Blake 
 he thinks that Bryan is the whole show. That's 
 only one case ; there are others, lots of 'em. He 
 seems to know by instinct when a fellow is be- 
 ginning to go wrong or to weaken, and chuck 
 his work, and he goes for that fellow, and gets 
 him almost every time. He has interested a lot 
 of the chaps that have money in his boys' clubs 
 got 'em not only to give money, but go once or 
 twice a week and get acquainted with the boys 
 and help 'em in all sorts of ways. How he finds 
 time for it all I don't know, but he manages it 
 somehow." 
 
 " And you say he means to enter the min- 
 istry?" Mr. Marston said thoughtfully. 
 
 Ted nodded. " Yes, and start work down in 
 the slums somewhere. He's going to begin with
 
 22 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 some sort of settlement work, and when he gets 
 enough to start enough people, I mean he'll 
 get the money somehow for a building, some- 
 thing in the line of an institutional church he has 
 in mind, with all sorts of helps and attractions 
 for poor people. He'll get them the church and 
 the congregation both. I've heard him talk to his 
 boys at the club. Tell ye what he gets right 
 hold of them, and I don't wonder. I would have 
 done anything he asked me to, after one of those 
 talks," Ted finished with emphasis. 
 
 " It is partly the peculiar quality of his voice 
 that gives him such unusual power as a speaker," 
 Mr. Marston said slowly. 
 
 " Oh, yes, I admit that," Ted flung back in- 
 stantly, " but that isn't all, father not by a long 
 shot!" 
 
 " No, I didn't say it was. It is that quality 
 of the man behind the voice. He has power, and 
 the world always yields to power. Perhaps," he 
 added musingly, " he has chosen his life work 
 wisely, but I believe that I could show him how 
 he might multiply many times his influence for 
 good in the world." 
 
 The gravity of Ted's face broke suddenly into 
 amusement. 
 
 " Ah, daddy, what an old sticker you are ! " 
 he laughed. "You think you'll succeed in 
 sprinkling some golden salt on your bird's tail- 
 feathers and then you'll grab him. But you're 
 off this time. Bryan is different. You'll see."
 
 II 
 
 IN THE DEPTHS 
 
 TED MARSTON was a junior at the time 
 of the Princeton-Harvard debate. All 
 through the next year his letters were full 
 of Bryan, until Marjorie petulantly declared that 
 she was sick of hearing about Ted's paragon 
 she was sure that he was a conceited prig. She 
 wrote to her cousin that if he didn't put some- 
 thing besides Bryan into his letters she would not 
 go to the Commencement at all, and then 
 wouldn't he be disappointed? And Ted wrote 
 back that he would never mention Bryan's 
 name to her again if she'd only come, for he 
 had told the fellows that his pretty cousin was to 
 be there and they were all crazy to see her, and 
 see if she really was as pretty as she used to be. 
 
 Marjorie frowned and laughed over that last 
 sentence, but she went to the Commencement as 
 she had meant all the time to do. 
 
 It was a great occasion for Ted, but his joy 
 was sadly marred before the evening was over. 
 Bryan had been chosen valedictorian, not be- 
 cause of his scholarship, for he was not one of 
 the honour-men, but his classmates would have 
 him and no other, and though he said little, he 
 23
 
 24 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 was greatly pleased to be chosen. He spent much 
 time and thought over his paper, and as, on the 
 eventful night, he sat awaiting his turn, his heart 
 was full to overflowing of gratitude and gladness. 
 His thoughts went back through the bygone years, 
 years of struggle and hard-won victory. How 
 impossible it seemed that he poor little " Tode " 
 Bryan of the streets had really won through 
 those four years hard, glad, glorious years to 
 this great hour. And now, three more years of 
 hard work, and study, and then, his heart leaped 
 exultantly, then all the years to come spent in 
 following the footsteps of One and His splendid 
 servant. To Theodore Bryan nothing else that 
 earth could offer seemed worthy of mention, com- 
 pared with such a life of joyful service. 
 
 He roused himself with a start, realising that 
 the president was reading his name as the vale- 
 dictorian, and as he rose and stepped forward, 
 the very walls seemed to rock with the welcome 
 that greeted him. What dear fellows they were, 
 all of them! He looked across the hall at the 
 great body of undergraduates, then at the presi- 
 dent and professors, and finally his eyes passed 
 along the line of his black-gowned classmates 
 his, little Tode Bryan's ! Then he became aware 
 that the tumultuous applause had ceased, and 
 there was silence they were waiting for him to 
 speak. Lifting his head he began : 
 
 "Mr. President and " Then he stopped 
 
 short. 
 
 The eyes of his classmates, perplexed, won-
 
 IN THE DEPTHS *5 
 
 dering, startled, were focussed upon him. What 
 could be the matter ? Surely he had not forgot- 
 ten what he had to say. Yet he stood there star- 
 ing at the president, his face white, drawn, ago- 
 nised. Again and again he opened his lips, but 
 no sound followed. 
 
 "Are you ill, Mr. Bryan?" The words 
 seemed to float in the air about him as the presi- 
 dent spoke in an anxious whisper. Instinctively 
 trying to reply in the same key, Bryan heard him- 
 self saying, " No, sir, it's my voice. It's it's 
 gone. I can only speak like this." 
 
 " Sit down a moment and take a glass of water. 
 It is probably only nervousness," the president 
 said kindly. A word to the leader, and the or- 
 chestra filled the interval with a medley of popu- 
 lar airs while Bryan slowly drank the water that 
 some one had handed him. But plainly it was 
 something more than nervousness. Try as he 
 would, he could not speak above a hoarse whis- 
 per, and this being evident, the valedictory had to 
 be omitted, since Bryan had no written paper that 
 another might have read for him. 
 
 It was a very great disappointment to him, 
 for the honour of so representing his class had 
 meant very much to him ; but by the time the 
 exercises were over, he had recovered from the 
 shock of surprise and dismay, and could turn 
 the matter off lightly, when friends and class- 
 mates crowded about him with questions and 
 regrets. 
 
 "Whafs the odds?" he said in his husky
 
 26 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 whisper. " I've had these four splendid years 
 with you at old Harvard, and I've got my sheep- 
 skin all right; and I know you fellows will for- 
 give me for making such a mess of it here to- 
 night, since I really couldn't help it." 
 
 Professors and classmates said everything they 
 could think of to lighten his mortification and 
 regret, and Ted Marston tried to carry him 
 down to where Mr. Marston and Mar j one were 
 waiting, but Bryan begged off. 
 
 " Another time, when I won't sound quite so 
 much like an ancient crow," he laughed. " You're 
 going to stay on here for a few days, aren't 
 you?" 
 
 "Yes," Ted assured him, "and I shall be 
 around after you to-morrow. My father wants 
 particularly to see you particularly, Bryan." 
 
 "To see me for what?" Bryan asked; but 
 Ted answered with a laugh : 
 
 " I shan't tell you for what. Dad prefers to 
 attend to his own business only he's going to 
 see you if he has to stay in Boston a week." 
 
 Then others came up; there were hand-shak- 
 ings and lingering farewells, and promises of 
 letters and meetings in the near future ; and some 
 were gay and jolly, but more were sad because 
 the four happy years were ended. Many clear 
 young eyes were dim and many manly faces wet 
 with tears before all the good-byes were spoken, 
 and the black-gowned graduates slowly and re- 
 luctantly went their separate ways. 
 
 Bryan was among the last to leave; as he
 
 IN THE DEPTHS 27 
 
 turned towards the door, the dean came hurrying 
 after him. 
 
 " Bryan," he said, his hand on the young 
 man's shoulder, " it was hard for you to-night 
 very hard. We are all so sorry. But after all, a 
 valedictory is a matter of small importance. You 
 will have better and bigger things to do in the 
 world, and I know you will do your part well. 
 You are not made of the stuff that fails." Then 
 with a keen glance, he asked, " Have you ever 
 had any trouble with your voice before ? " 
 
 Bryan shook his head. He hated to speak in 
 that strange husky tone. 
 
 " Well, there's " The Dean named a noted 
 
 specialist in throat diseases. "You'd better see 
 him to-morrow." 
 
 Bryan looked startled. " Why, it's only a cold 
 or maybe I've strained my voice somehow," he 
 said quickly. 
 
 " Very likely I hope that is all ; but you'd bet- 
 ter see the doctor without delay. Mention my 
 name he's a good friend of mine and come 
 around after you've seen him and tell me what 
 he says, will you ? " 
 
 " Certainly, if you wish. Thank you very 
 much, professor," Bryan answered, and then he 
 was outside alone in the summer night. 
 
 It was only because of his promise to the dean 
 that Bryan iwent to the specialist the next day ; and, 
 though he did not guess that, it was only through 
 his use of the dean's name that he was admitted 
 to the doctor's office without previous appointment.
 
 28 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 The doctor examined him carefully and asked 
 many questions, among others, what were his 
 plans now that his college course was over. 
 When Bryan told him, the doctor sat silent so 
 long that the young man felt a vague thrill of 
 uneasiness. 
 
 "Of course, I know that this isn't anything 
 serious, doctor," he said lightly. " I shouldn't 
 have come to you if the dean had not made me 
 promise to do so." 
 
 " It is serious," returned the doctor gravely. 
 
 Involuntarily Bryan threw back his shoulders 
 as one who braces himself for a shock. 
 
 "You mean ?" He left the sentence un- 
 finished. 
 
 "I mean," returned the doctor slowly, "that 
 you must change your plans. You will never 
 be able to preach." 
 
 Bryan sat perfectly motionless, his eyes 
 startled, incredulous, rebellious, staring at the 
 doctor's face. 
 
 " It is hard " like one in a dream he heard 
 the doctor's voice go on " but you are a man, 
 and a strong one. Men are needed in the world 
 for other things as well as for preaching. You 
 can live the gospel, if you cannot preach it, you 
 know." 
 
 " Do you mean that I must always speak 
 like this?" The husky whisper cut across the 
 doctor's words, unheeding. 
 
 " Oh, no. You will recover from this strain, 
 and probably have a good voice for ordinary con-
 
 IN THE DEPTHS 29 
 
 versation ; but if you attempt any amount of pub- 
 lic speaking, it will be likely to end as it did last 
 night." 
 
 For a moment Bryan turned his face aside; 
 then he drew a long breath and stood up. 
 " Thank you, doctor," he said. " I suppose," 
 wistfully, "there is no chance that you are mis- 
 taken? You know it all in this line, they 
 say." 
 
 " There is no possibility of a mistake. I wish 
 there was, for your sake," the doctor answered, 
 and Bryan paid the fee, and walked out without 
 another word. 
 
 All that day the dean watched and waited for 
 Bryan to come and tell him the result of his inter- 
 view with the doctor, but he did not appear. 
 Three times Ted Marston went to Bryan's room, 
 but each time he found the door locked, and 
 there was no response to his imperative demand 
 for admittance, so he went grumbling back to his 
 father and cousin. 
 
 The second day the dean himself went to 
 Bryan's room, and he, too, found the door fas- 
 tened, nor did it open to his knock any more 
 than it had to Ted Marston's. But the dean did 
 not go away grumbling. He sent a message to 
 the landlady, and when she appeared, he made 
 some searching inquiries. 
 
 " Indeed, sir," the woman declared, " I'm wor- 
 ried most to death about Mr. Bryan. He's in his 
 room oh, yes, he's there but he won't let any- 
 body in, and he hasn't been out since yesterday
 
 30 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 morning. I'm sure he hasn't had a mouthful to 
 eat for twenty-four hours. And he's always been 
 so steady, never well, you know, sir, how some 
 of the young gentlemen are. I'm sure he must be 
 sick or in some great trouble. I do wish you 
 could get in and see him." 
 
 " I will," the dean answered, and returning to 
 the door, he knocked again and listened. There 
 was no sound. He put his lips to the keyhole. 
 
 " Bryan," he called, " I must see you. I know 
 you are here." 
 
 There was silence for a moment longer; then 
 the dean's quick ears heard the words whispered 
 through the door, " I'm sorry, professor, but I 
 can't see any one to-day not even you." 
 
 " You can, and you must see me, Bryan. If 
 you do not open the door, I shall get a chair and 
 sit here until you let me in if I have to stay until 
 to-morrow morning." 
 
 " Please, sir, don't stay. Another time maybe 
 to-morrow, I can see you." 
 
 " No, to-morrow will not do. I must see you 
 now." The dean's determined voice showed no 
 signs of yielding. 
 
 Another silence followed ; then suddenly the 
 door was flung open, and the dean entered the 
 room. He stared in wonder and dismay at the 
 face of the young man, so changed it was since 
 he had last looked into it. 
 
 " Why, Bryan, you are ill don't stand," he 
 cried. 
 
 Bryan flung himself into a chair, leaving his
 
 IN THE DEPTHS 31 
 
 visitor to find one for himself. The dean cast 
 a swift glance about the disordered room, then 
 his eyes came back to Bryan's face. It was the 
 face of one with no hope, no object in life one 
 who might be swept into any current of evil. 
 
 " Bryan, what is the trouble ? You know I am 
 your friend. Trust me, and be sure that I will 
 give you any help in my power." The dean 
 spoke earnestly. 
 
 " There is no help." 
 
 "What do you mean, Bryan? What has hap- 
 pened ? " 
 
 " Nothing much, only everything is gone," 
 said Bryan slowly. Suddenly he lifted dull, hope- 
 less eyes to the dean's face. " God is gone. I 
 don't believe in God any more," he added slowly 
 and distinctly. 
 
 " Bryan ! " Sheer surprise held the dean silent 
 after that one word. This from Bryan, whose un- 
 shaken faith and trust had kept so many careless 
 boys from straying led sa many wild and reck- 
 less ones to spend their strength and energy in 
 helping others ! Bryan of all men ! At last the 
 dean spoke slowly, gravely : " I must know what 
 this means, Bryan." Then with a sudden glim- 
 mer of understanding, " Did you see the doctor ? " 
 
 Bryan nodded. If it were possible, the gloom 
 on his face deepened. 
 
 " What did he say ? " 
 
 " He said," strangely enough, Bryan's voice 
 changed suddenly and for a moment he spoke as 
 clearly as ever, but so absorbed was he in what
 
 32 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 he was saying that he did not notice it " he said 
 that I must make other plans for my life, for 
 I could never be a public speaker never preach." 
 He leaned forward now, a strange gleam leaping 
 into his eyes till they glowed like coals in his 
 white drawn face. 
 
 " Do you understand, professor, what that 
 meant to me ? When I was a little tough on these 
 city streets with no people and no home and no 
 anything, I was made to believe that there was a 
 great and good God that He loved us, every last 
 one of us, and that the most splendid thing a fel- 
 low could do was to spend his whole life in serv- 
 ing that God, and lending a hand to those who 
 needed help. I vowed I would do that. You've 
 never been a stray boy of the streets, professor 
 you can't imagine what it meant for such a boy to 
 keep that vow. It meant fighting the devil in my- 
 self every waking hour. It meant denying myself 
 about everything that other boys delighted in. 
 It meant working day in and day out, year in and 
 year out, and never spending a nickel on the 
 things I wanted as much as the other fellows 
 wanted 'em, and being called a fool for my pains. 
 And when I grew older, still believing in that 
 God I'd heard about, I set myself to get an edu- 
 cation so that I could be a minister and tell other 
 people about Him poor street waifs like my- 
 self, and worse. Maybe you think you can imag- 
 ine what it cost me this education but you 
 can't. The long years I grubbed and slaved to 
 earn a living, and went to night-school and tried
 
 IN THE DEPTHS 33 
 
 to study when I was so dead tired I'd fall asleep 
 over my books the years it took me to save up 
 even the little I had when I came here to college. 
 I could have saved up more in much less time, but 
 I thought I must please Him by helping other 
 fellows poorer than I was. Work! If I hadn't 
 been strong as a horse, I never could have pulled 
 through and got ready for college. You know 
 how it has been these four years past ; you know 
 how I've worked to pay expenses and keep up 
 with my classes, and still give time to fellows 
 that I thought needed help ! " 
 
 He had poured out all this with a sullen pas- 
 sion like a dull, smouldering fire bursting in- 
 to sudden vivid flame. As he paused the dean 
 nodded, his kind eyes full of concern and com- 
 passion. 
 
 " Yes, Bryan," he said, " I have watched you 
 through these four years, and have felt that the 
 dear old college was honoured in counting you 
 among her students." 
 
 Bryan's fierce eyes did not soften. His som- 
 bre gaze sent a thrill of dread through the dean's 
 heart. He would have said more, but Bryan, 
 paying no heed, swept on with increasing bitter- 
 ness. 
 
 " I made up my mind that I'd give my whole 
 life to the service of that God Who doesn't exist ; 
 that I'd be a minister and live among the poorest 
 in some great city ; and I meant to work my way 
 through the seminary as I had worked it through 
 college. Is it a small thing I ask you, professor
 
 34 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 do you count it a small thing for a young man 
 to give freely his whole life to the service of a 
 God that he believes in, and to his fellowmen ; to 
 put aside his own ambitions, his own pleasures 
 all the things that other men want and work for 
 do you count that a small thing ? " 
 
 " No, I count it a great thing a splendid 
 thing," the professor answered quickly, " and God 
 never fails to accept and bless a life so conse- 
 crated to Him ; but, my boy, He may have other 
 plans for you plans which will make your life 
 richer and happier and more useful to others than 
 if your own chosen plan had been carried out." 
 
 " No, professor," Bryan's words dropped 
 slowly, one by one now, "no! If the God I've 
 believed in really existed, He'd never let a fel- 
 low trust Him and work for Him all these years, 
 and then fling him aside like an old shoe, just 
 when he was offering all he had all he had 
 made of himself, to Him. No, the kind of God 
 I've believed in couldn't do that. It's all a mis- 
 take. There isn't any such God, and I've found 
 it out. Now I'm going to live as other men do- 
 take all the good I can find in life, whenever and 
 wherever I can get it, and let the other fellows 
 look out for themselves. I'm glad I've told you 
 this. I'm no hypocrite, and I'd rather have you 
 know just where I stand and how I feel." 
 
 " Bryan," the dean leaned forward and spoke 
 with grave impressiveness, " you have not been 
 mistaken all these years. The God you have 
 believed in does exist, and He will not let you
 
 IN THE DEPTHS 35 
 
 cut yourself off from His love. He may let you 
 wander away from Him for a time, but He will 
 surely bring you back. I believe I am sure 
 that in the years to come you are to do for Him 
 even more than you have done in the past." 
 
 Bryan's answer to that was a laugh a laugh 
 that was sadder than tears, but he spoke no word. 
 The dean rose and held out his hand. 
 
 " I have always liked you, Bryan, from the first 
 time I spoke to you, and I want to say to you 
 now that you have done for Harvard through 
 your influence over the boys more even than Har- 
 vard has done for you. And, Bryan, if you have 
 lost your faith in God, at least be true to your- 
 self to your manhood. Do not do anything that 
 will spoil the splendid record you have made thus 
 far. With your strong body and clear brain 
 you can make a good place for yourself in the 
 world, and do not forget this any downward 
 step that you take will lead others downward. 
 You have more influence than perhaps you real- 
 ise. I am going now, but, Theodore, remember 
 that I am most heartily your friend, and if at any 
 time or in any way I can be of service to you, it 
 will give me very great pleasure. Good-bye." 
 
 As the door closed behind him, Bryan, with 
 a frown, turned the key in the lock, and began 
 walking up and down the room, his hands in 
 his pockets, his eyes full of gloom. Once his 
 glance rested on a portrait that hung over his 
 desk, and, with a shudder, he caught up a table- 
 cover and flung it over the picture that he might
 
 36 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 not see the noble face with its earnest, searching 
 eyes. 
 
 A little later there was again a knock on the 
 door. When it had been many times repeated, 
 Bryan impatiently flung the door open and stood 
 scowling at the unwelcome visitor. 
 
 " Well, what do you want ? " he demanded 
 roughly. 
 
 The young man who stood in the hall stared at 
 him in bewildered amazement. 
 
 " Why why " he stammered, " I came 
 'round to see how you were. I was here twice 
 yesterday, but you were out. The boys were aw- 
 fully disappointed when you didn't come to the 
 club last night it's the first night you've missed, 
 you know. Some of them wanted to come over 
 here to-day, but I told 'em I'd come. Is it you 
 are sick, Theodore ? " 
 
 " No, I'm not sick. There's nothing the matter 
 with me except this confounded throat strain. 
 Tell the boys I'm all right, Finney." He did not 
 invite his visitor to enter. 
 
 Finney pushed back his cap and ran his fingers 
 through his thick reddish hair, while his eyes, 
 wondering and perplexed, searched Bryan's face. 
 
 "Then I'll tell 'em you'll be at the club as 
 usual, Sunday?" he questioned. 
 
 Bryan considered a moment, frowning. Then, 
 " No " he said with cold deliberation, " I'm done 
 with the club. I'm going to clear out altogether 
 for a while." 
 
 Finney's eyes widened in blank amazement.
 
 IN THE DEPTHS 37 
 
 " Oh, no, Bryan," he cried, " you don't mean that 
 say you don't. Why, it'll break the club all up 
 to have you go, and there's Tod Smith, you know, 
 and Billy Coombs and Patsey why, why, Bryan, 
 we just can't get along without you no way." 
 
 " You'll have to, whether or no," was the grim 
 response. " I've turned over a new leaf, Fin- 
 ney, and it isn't going to read like the old one, 
 that's all there is about it." 
 
 Finney stood gaping in open-mouthed wonder 
 and dismay for a long minute. Then he said 
 wistfully, dropping back into the old familiar 
 name, " Tode I I look here, is it anything 
 I've done? Because if it is, I'll make it up any 
 way I can if you'll only tell me how. I guess " 
 he choked over the hurried words " I guess 
 you don't realise how much you mean to us down 
 at the club, Tode. You do know, don't you, that 
 there's some we'll lose ive can't keep hold of 'em 
 without your help?" 
 
 Bryan's face did not soften at this appeal, 
 though his eyes now evaded Finney's. 
 
 " You'll have to lose 'em, then they can't 
 be hanging on to me forever," he flung out 
 brusquely. Then he added, " See here, Finney, 
 cut it short, will you? I'm dead tired I want 
 to rest." 
 
 The hint was too broad to be disregarded. 
 Finney turned dejectedly away, but Bryan called 
 after him, " Say, Jack, stop at the chop-house, will 
 you, and tell Dick that he isn't to come up here 
 until he hears from me. He can run the place
 
 38 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 alone well enough, I guess, and if he can't, tell 
 him to sell out and put up the shutters. I don't 
 care what he does with it." 
 
 " I'll tell him," Finney answered over his 
 shoulder, and went stumbling down the dark 
 hall, his eyes blinded with tears. He could not 
 believe that this was the Bryan he had known 
 so long this surly, morose, dark-faced fellow, 
 with no interest in the things that, up to now, 
 had been so important to him. He talked the 
 matter over with Dick Hunt, who was even more 
 concerned than he, for Dick loved Bryan with 
 all his heart. He listened in forlorn wonder to 
 Finney's account of what Bryan had said, and 
 would have set off at once to see his friend, but 
 Finney dissuaded him. 
 
 " He wouldn't even ask me into his room 
 acted as if he grudged the few minutes I kept him 
 talking, and he said you were not to go there, as 
 I told you." 
 
 "Oh, but," Dick began eagerly; then with a 
 sigh, " well, I suppose I'll have to do as he says, 
 then, but I do hope he'll come around or send for 
 me soon." 
 
 Finney shook his head. " He won't. He's 
 changed somehow he isn't the same fellow at 
 all," he declared. 
 
 Meantime Bryan was having another visitor, 
 and one who would not be denied. He ham- 
 mered away on the door until Bryan could stand 
 the racket no longer, and flung it open even more 
 reluctantly than he had opened it to Finney.
 
 IN THE DEPTHS 39 
 
 " Can't you give a fellow any peace ? " he de- 
 manded angrily, but Ted Marston smiled into 
 the dark face and pushed his way into the room 
 without waiting for the invitation which, per- 
 haps, he suspected would not have been forth- 
 coming, for he had just come from an interview 
 with the dean. 
 
 " I know you don't want to see me, Bryan," 
 he began, as he sat down, while Bryan, still 
 standing, listened with unconcealed impatience to 
 what he had to say, " but you see I'm between 
 two fires. My father insists upon seeing you 
 says I must bring you over to the hotel and 
 what father says must be, generally is. I know 
 you're under the weather, poor old chap. It is 
 awfully hard lines, but doctors make mistakes 
 sometimes, and I'll bet a cooky the one you saw 
 will live to own up that he was wrong this time. 
 I knew a fellow once that lost his voice same way 
 you have, but in a year or so he was all right and 
 could pipe up as well as ever; and I believe 
 that's the way it will be with you. But mean- 
 time, while you're giving your voice a chance to 
 get in shape again, this idea of daddy's may fit 
 in all right, don't you see ? " 
 
 "What idea?" Bryan demanded shortly. 
 
 " Oh, that's telling, and I'm under orders not to 
 tell. I'm also under orders to take you over to 
 the hotel. How am I to do it? Will you trot 
 along comfortably, or must I pick you up bodily 
 and carry you ? " 
 
 Even Bryan's gloomy face lightened a bit at
 
 40 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 the idea of Ted, two inches shorter and many 
 pounds lighter than he, picking him up and carry- 
 ing him but the lightening was only momentary. 
 
 " I don't want to see anybody to-night," he said. 
 
 " That's tolerably plain speaking," returned 
 Ted with a smile, and Ted's smile was one to 
 warm the coldest heart, " but, you see there's 
 the pater's orders. I can't go back without you, 
 so it looks as if I should have to camp down here 
 till you have a change of heart or mind," and he 
 settled himself comfortably in his chair, pulling 
 another forward for his feet. 
 
 Bryan scowled at him. " Marston, I know 
 I'm not very polite " 
 
 " Oh, well, I never knew you to be twpolite be- 
 fore, and I can certainly overlook one little 
 lapse," Ted broke in cheerfully. 
 
 Bryan went on gravely, " But I'm in the depths 
 to-night and I want to be alone. Some other 
 time, perhaps " 
 
 Again Teddy interrupted with unruffled com- 
 posure and cheerfulness. 
 
 " I know, my dear fellow, and if it were my 
 own affair I'd be out of this room before you 
 could wink, but let me remind you once more 
 I'm under orders father's orders and I don't 
 know how it is, but dad has a way of getting his 
 orders obeyed; so I really can't go back and tell 
 him that you won't come, don't you see ? " 
 
 Again Bryan's brows drew together in an im- 
 patient frown, and Ted, watching him keenly 
 under his merry composure, added suggestively:
 
 IN THE DEPTHS 41 
 
 " Easiest way out of it is to go over yourself and 
 tell the pater that you'll have none of him or his 
 ideas or his son, ct present. Say we go now? " 
 
 With an impatient breath Bryan caught up his 
 cap and Teddy blithely followed his example ; but 
 as they went down the steps, Bryan suddenly 
 staggered and caught at the railing. 
 
 " Look here, Bryan, when did you eat last?" 
 demanded Marston sharply, his eyes on the 
 other's white face. 
 
 " I don't remember. It's of no consequence," 
 Bryan answered, recovering himself with an 
 effort. 
 
 " Ginger! " was Ted's comment, and as they 
 reached the street, he hailed the first cab he saw 
 and pushed his friend into it. When they were 
 set down at the hotel he led the way straight to 
 the dining-room. 
 
 " Hush up ! " he said in an imperative under- 
 tone as Bryan began to remonstrate. " Don't be 
 a fool. You can't hold out against father 
 on an empty stomach." He gave an order to the 
 waiter, who hurried forward, pushed Bryan into 
 a chair, and presently had the satisfaction of see- 
 ing him eat a hearty meal. 
 
 " There, you begin to look like yourself now ! " 
 he remarked when Bryan rose from the table. 
 
 Bryan could not well refuse then to see Mr. 
 Marston, and presently he found himself sitting 
 in a private parlour, while Ted fidgetted about 
 the room audibly wondering what made his father 
 so long in coming.
 
 Ill 
 
 A LOST YEAR 
 
 WHEN finally his father appeared, Ted 
 promptly vanished. Mr. Marston did 
 not fail to take full note of the change 
 in the young man who rose to meet him a 
 change that would have been evident to much less 
 observant eyes than his. 
 
 " You have been ill," he began abruptly. 
 
 " No, I'm all right, except my voice," was the 
 indifferent answer. 
 
 " You've had advice in regard to that ? " 
 
 Bryan nodded. " Yes, permanent weakness, 
 the doctor says," he returned briefly; then dis- 
 missing the subject " Ted said that you wanted 
 to see me, Mr. Marston." 
 
 " Yes, I did I do. My son tells me that you 
 intend to enter the ministry." 
 
 A dark flush swept swiftly over the young 
 man's face and his mouth hardened. " That 
 was a dream. I'm awake now," was the curt 
 response. 
 
 " Does that mean that you have other 
 plans?" 
 
 " No. It means that I have no plans, except 
 42
 
 A LOST YEAR 43 
 
 to get away from this city. I I can't breathe 
 here, now." He threw back his head like one 
 suffocating. 
 
 " Perhaps, then, you may be inclined to con- 
 sider a proposition that I am going to make to 
 you. I am always on the lookout for strong, able 
 young men, men of high character and large 
 ability, with a good physique to back them up. 
 I believe that you are such a young man. I think 
 so partly on my own judgment, partly from what 
 I have heard of you and of what you have al- 
 ready accomplished. Are you willing to consider 
 an offer ? " 
 
 " To consider it yes, if you want to make it 
 after I have told you certain things. Mr. 
 Marston, you have spoken of my ability and high 
 character. I haven't any unusual ability. What- 
 ever I have accomplished has been done by stick- 
 ing everlastingly at it working summer and 
 winter, day and night. As to high character I 
 don't know exactly what you understand by that 
 term, but I want to tell you that I've been 
 through a sort of moral revolution in the past 
 two days. All my life, until two days ago, I've 
 been what is called ' a Christian.' Now I am 
 nothing but a man, and maybe my character isn't 
 or won't be high enough to suit you." 
 
 " Why are you telling me this ? " 
 
 Bryan looked puzzled. Then he answered: 
 " Because it wouldn't be honest not to. Of 
 course a man's got to be honest," he ended 
 slowly.
 
 44 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 " That will do," the other man told him. " I'll 
 trust you and your honesty. Now then, when 
 can you come to New York?" 
 
 " The sooner the better. To-night, if you 
 wish." 
 
 " Very well, we are returning to-morrow, and 
 Ted will be glad of your company. You have 
 no questions to ask about the business, or the 
 salary you will have ? " 
 
 " What difference does it make ? " Bryan re- 
 turned coldly. " Mr. Marston, I want you to 
 understand that I would have accepted to-night 
 almost any offer from any man so it meant 
 getting away from here." Then with an after- 
 thought, he added indifferently : " Very likely I 
 shall not suit you anyhow. You can try me for a 
 month, and see." 
 
 "Very well. I'll give you one hundred and 
 fifty dollars for that month on condition that, if 
 I am suited, you will sign a contract for two 
 years. Do you agree ? " 
 
 Bryan nodded carelessly ; then he rose. " I 
 have a few things to attend to," he said, "so if 
 you have nothing further to say to me now " 
 
 "Nothing but thank you, and good-night," 
 Mr. Marston returned. " We go by the Fall 
 River boat," he added. " The train leaves the 
 South Station here at six-thirty, I believe. We 
 shall reserve a seat for you in the Pullman." 
 
 " No, please. I'll go in the other car and meet 
 you at the boat," Bryan answered, and was gone 
 before any further word could be said.
 
 A LOST YEAR 45 
 
 " Well, daddy caught your bird ? " was Ted's 
 eager greeting as his father returned. 
 
 " Yes," Mr. Marston answered. 
 
 " Well, you are a one-er ! " Ted declared, his 
 eyes widening in surprise. " But all the same, 
 father, you never would have got him if he'd 
 been the same old Bryan. I never saw such a 
 change in a fellow and all because he's lost his 
 voice. The professor is all broken up over it 
 fairly wiped his eyes while he was telling me. 
 Said he couldn't understand such a total upset. 
 Why, I've been telling Marjie here you know 
 Bryan has been a regular Puritan, church and 
 Sunday School and Y. M. C. A., and all that club 
 work, and now he solemnly declares that he 
 doesn't believe in God at all. Seems he just 
 can't believe in a God that would let him work 
 for years to get ready to be a minister, and then 
 turn him down! My word, 'tis tough too, for 
 his heart was just set on that preaching, and now 
 he's going to chuck the whole blessed business. 
 I reckon," Teddy added thoughtfully, " those 
 little chaps at the club will be badly broken up. 
 They think Bryan's all there is." 
 
 " It simply shows how absolutely his heart was 
 set on doing that work," Mr. Marston returned. 
 " After all it is only natural for one of Bryan's 
 strong character to take it so. He offered him- 
 self and all that he may be whole-heartedly 
 and he feels that his offering has been rejected." 
 
 "That's it exactly that's what he said in 
 other words to the dean. Poor old Bryan, I'm
 
 46 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 sorry. He'll never be the same fellow he was, 
 and we all loved him well. I tell you, father, if 
 he could realise the influence that he has if he 
 could realise how the stand he is taking now 
 will shake the faith of more than a few who 
 have looked up to him he'd think twice about 
 it all. He's going to be mighty sorry, I tell you, 
 if he ever does come to his senses." 
 
 Mar j one was watching her cousin in frank 
 amazement. Now she said slowly, " Why, Ted, 
 I didn't know that you cared for for those 
 things." 
 
 "What things?" he flung at her a little 
 sharply. 
 
 " Why, religion and slum work, and all those 
 things that Bryan has forsworn." 
 
 " Well, you don't know quite everything, you 
 see," he answered, " and besides, I'm not sure yet 
 how much I do care for them. I half promised 
 Bryan that I'd spend six months with him down 
 at his settlement, but that's all off now, of 
 course." 
 
 " You at a settlement ! Why, Teddy Marston, 
 who ever heard of such a thing!" Marjorie 
 cried, divided between amusement and some 
 other emotion which she could not quite define at 
 the moment. Then she turned to her uncle. 
 " Uncle Ned, you wouldn't let him live in a set- 
 tlement, would you ? " 
 
 Her uncle's answer amazed her yet more. " If 
 he wants to try it, I have no objection," he said, 
 and added with a laugh, " I don't think you need
 
 A LOST YEAR 47 
 
 be disturbed, Marjorie; you know how short- 
 lived Ted's fancies are apt to be. And anyhow, 
 I don't think it would hurt him to spend a few 
 months finding out, from personal observation, 
 ' how the other half lives.' " 
 
 " Well, Teddy Marston," Marjorie broke out 
 after a moment's silent reflection over that, " if 
 you do go settlementing, I shall go too so there ! 
 Nellie Hanson is going into a settlement house 
 next fall. She knows some girls who lived there 
 last year, and they are just wild over it. They 
 say it's no end of fun." 
 
 " Fun! " echoed her cousin scornfully. " Well, 
 now let me tell you, Miss Armstrong, you wouldn't 
 find it your idea of fun, whatever Nellie Hanson 
 may say about it. I know what I'm talking about 
 a little. Remember I've been down a number 
 of times to Bryan's club and to the settlement 
 houses where some of our fellows were helping. 
 You'd just hate it the dirt and grime of it all, 
 and the kind of people you'd have to rub up 
 against. Oh ! " He threw back his head sud- 
 denly and broke into laughter. " I can just see 
 you with your silks and your finicky white gowns 
 trailing around over those bare floors, and the 
 kids mauling you with their sticky fingers, and 
 kissing you with their dirty faces how you 
 would love it, just I" 
 
 Marjorie pouted, lifting a disdainful chin. 
 " Oh, you can laugh," she retorted, " but I shall 
 try it all the same just as sure as you do so 
 there!"
 
 48 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 " Come, come, little girl, it isn't worth while 
 for you to get wrought up over it yet awhile," 
 Mr. Marston interposed quietly. " Ted hasn't 
 gone into residence in a settlement house yet, 
 remember." 
 
 " No, father, but maybe you don't know how 
 many of the Harvard alumni are going into that 
 sort of thing," Ted persisted. " Some give all 
 their time for a year or two, and a good many 
 give one or two days or evenings a week. You'd 
 be surprised, I think, if I should give you the list 
 of names of men that I know who are doing more 
 or less in this line." 
 
 " Well, they couldn't accomplish much without 
 money," Mr. Marston observed thoughtfully, 
 " so I don't see but that we who make the money, 
 and give it to support such work, are doing our 
 full share, even if we don't ourselves go down 
 into the slums to work, or to live," and at that, 
 with a little shiver and a long sigh of relief, 
 Marjorie settled back in her chair, and glanced 
 approvingly down at the dainty gown she wore. 
 Also she made up her mind that she would give 
 Nellie Hanson a liberal check for her settlement, 
 the very next day, and so and so she need not 
 think any more about those horrid slum people. 
 What was the use after all of thinking about 
 disagreeable people or things when one didn't 
 have to? 
 
 But she found her interest in Bryan unaccount- 
 ably growing. He must be an unusual fellow in- 
 deed to get such an influence over Teddy, she
 
 A LOST YEAR 49 
 
 thought. So when he joined them on the Fall 
 River boat the next night, she was prepared to 
 be very kind to him. Of course she could not 
 treat him exactly as she would other friends of 
 Teddy's. She could not forget what his life had 
 been, in the beginning. He did not belong in her 
 world and never could that went without saying 
 but still one couldn't help being interested in 
 seeing what he would make of himself, now that 
 Uncle Ned had taken him up. 
 
 But when Bryan appeared, it was quite evident 
 that he had no interest whatever in Miss Mar- 
 jorie Armstrong. He bowed and said " Good- 
 evening," and after that apparently quite forgot 
 her existence. Even to her uncle and cousin he 
 had very little to say, she noticed, and in a short 
 time he excused himself, and did not join them 
 again until they reached New York the next 
 morning. And after that it was many weeks be- 
 fore Marjorie saw him again, but she heard of 
 him frequently through Teddy and his father. 
 
 Mr. Marston was evidently more than satisfied 
 with the young man. He had made no mistake, 
 he was sure, in securing Bryan, who manifested 
 even more clear-headed business sagacity than 
 he had expected. Teddy, on the other hand, was 
 outspoken in his disappointment. Bryan might 
 do great things in business, but he wasn't half the 
 man he had been, so Ted declared with convic- 
 tion. He shut himself up like a clam, and you 
 couldn't get a word or a smile out of him ; and 
 selfish well, truly, he never seemed now to think
 
 50 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 of anybody or anything but himself. Oh, the 
 business of course he attended to that, but it 
 was just because it was his own business and 
 only think how he used to be helping everybody 
 else ! It was a shame to see a good fellow shrivel 
 up into nothing but a money-grubber before he 
 was thirty! As to the settlement work, that 
 seemed to hang fire with Teddy. The truth was 
 that he needed encouragement, and now there 
 was no one to give it to him. His father told 
 him to do as he pleased. Marjorie mocked at 
 the idea, and finally Ted suddenly decided to go 
 abroad for a year. When he came back, he 
 would be ready to decide whether he would go 
 into the office, as he knew his father hoped he 
 would, or have a try at something else maybe 
 the settlement life. So Ted sailed away in 
 search of adventure. 
 
 At the end of the trial month, Bryan was sum- 
 moned to Mr. Marston's private office, where he 
 found that gentleman awaiting him. 
 
 " Well, Bryan, the month is ended," Mr. 
 Marston began, motioning the young man to a 
 seat. " How about that two-year contract ? Are 
 you ready to sign it now ? " 
 
 " Yes, if you are satisfied," Bryan answered. 
 
 " You like the business ? " 
 
 Bryan's sombre eyes brightened. " Indeed I 
 do, Mr. Marston," he said quickly, but at once he 
 added, " I don't want to sign the contract though, 
 unless you are entirely satisfied that I can meet 
 your requirements."

 
 A LOST YEAR 51 
 
 " I am entirely satisfied," the other replied. 
 He picked up a paper from his desk. " Read 
 that over, and see if you have any objection to 
 the conditions." 
 
 Bryan read the paper carefully, then lifted a 
 face flushed with surprise and pleasure. " How 
 could I have any objections? " he asked. " Only 
 I don't feel that I am worth such a salary as you 
 offer yet." 
 
 " Do you think you will be, before the year is 
 out?" 
 
 For a moment the young man hesitated; then 
 he said quietly, " Yes, I do though I must 
 confess that it sounds rather conceited for me to 
 say so." 
 
 " No, it is not conceit ; you believe in yourself, 
 and you have reason to. I also believe in you; 
 if I didn't, I should not have offered you those 
 terms. Sign the contract then, and we will con- 
 sider the matter settled." 
 
 Bryan took the pen and dipped it in the ink, 
 then for a long minute he held it suspended over 
 the paper. His employer, watching his face, 
 would have given much to know the meaning of 
 the changing expressions that passed swiftly over 
 it. When at last Bryan's mouth hardened, and 
 with a rapid, steady hand he signed the paper, 
 Mr. Marston smiled with satisfaction. For that 
 one moment he had feared that the contract 
 would not be signed, and he wanted this young 
 man wanted him much. 
 
 From this time Bryan seemed to have no in-
 
 52 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 terest in anything except the business. Steadily 
 and rapidly he mastered every detail of his own 
 department, but he did not stop there. Six 
 months later, when there was a vacancy in an- 
 other department, he asked if he might fill it. 
 Mr. Marston seemed at first amused at the re- 
 quest. 
 
 " Why, Bryan," he reminded him, " that posi- 
 tion carries a thousand a year less. That would 
 be demotion instead of promotion/' 
 
 " That's of no consequence. It's the knowl- 
 edge I want now more than the money. There 
 are some things in that department that I don't 
 fully understand. Can I have the place, sir ? " 
 
 " You can if we can find some one to take the 
 work you are doing now," Mr. Marston replied, 
 " but really, Bryan, I don't know who can do it. 
 You know we are rather short-handed." 
 
 " Suppose you give me a couple of assistants to 
 do the detail work of the two departments," 
 Bryan suggested. " I think I can manage both 
 in that way, at least until you can find a man to 
 put in my place." 
 
 " Very well and how about salary ? " 
 
 " The salary I am getting now is more than I 
 need more than I ought to have had anyway 
 this first year. Fix that part of it to suit your- 
 self, Mr. Marston. What I want is the chance 
 to learn all parts of the business." 
 
 " Very well," Mr. Marston said again, " you 
 can see then if you can run both departments. 
 Select your own assistants from the force, and
 
 A LOST YEAR 53 
 
 we'll see how it works. I fancy you'll find that 
 this time you have undertaken more than you 
 can manage. If you do find it so, just let me 
 know, and we'll make some other arrangement." 
 
 But no other arrangement was necessary, and 
 Bryan had charge of both departments for the 
 remainder of the year. 
 
 In June Teddy came home, overflowing 
 with life and energy. Marjorie acknowledged 
 to herself that the year abroad had done much 
 for him. He had gone away a boy, but he 
 seemed to have left his boyish gaiety and thought- 
 lessness across the seas. He was a man now, 
 looking at life seriously and thoughtfully, though 
 under a mask of gay indifference.
 
 IV 
 
 RECALLED 
 
 A'EW days after Ted's return, Bryan pre- 
 sented himself in Mr. Marston's private 
 office. 
 
 " I've come to ask for leave of absence for a 
 few days," he said, as usual going straight to the 
 point. " You told me that I might have a month's 
 vacation. Is there any objection to my taking a 
 week of it now ? " 
 
 " None whatever, if you can arrange with 
 Tyler to look after things while you are gone," 
 Mr. Marston answered. 
 
 Bryan looked a little doubtful. " I think he 
 can do it I've attended to everything that could 
 be arranged ahead, but there are one or two 
 matters that I'm a bit anxious about. If you 
 could see to those, I'd feel easier about 
 going " 
 
 " Oh, yes, of course I'll see to any matter of 
 importance," the other returned, and the two dis- 
 cussed the business in question. Then Bryan 
 rose. 
 
 " When do you leave ? " Mr. Marston inquired. 
 
 " To-morrow or no, I think I'll go by the boat 
 to-night," Bryan returned. He paused as if half- 
 64
 
 RECALLED 55 
 
 inclined to say more, but thought better of it, 
 and left the office with a brief good-bye. 
 
 Mr. Marston looked after him thoughtfully. 
 " I wonder now what it was he came so near say- 
 ing," lie mused. " Curious fellow he is. Too 
 reserved by half, but he might have much worse 
 faults than that." 
 
 Bryan went straight to his boarding place, 
 flung a few things into a suitcase, and reached 
 the pier just two minutes before the boat 
 left. As he sat on the deck looking across 
 at the green shores slipping behind, he 
 found himself wondering perplexedly why he 
 was there. He could not tell why. For a week 
 past he had felt that he must go back to Boston. 
 He did not want to go indeed he wanted not 
 to go but something stronger than his own 
 strong will had impelled him. Now, watching 
 the fast-receding shores, he wished that he had 
 not come. What interests had he now in Boston, 
 he asked himself ; and answered, " None." And 
 friends? He winced at that question. Yes, he 
 had friends, good and true, and his conscience 
 told him that he had not treated them well in this 
 past year. He moved uncomfortably in his seat. 
 He resented this new activity on the part of his 
 conscience or whatever it was that was making 
 these unpleasant reminders. Conscience had 
 been silent, mostly, through the past twelve 
 months. Why should it suddenly start up in this 
 way ? He would not listen. Had he not a right 
 to live his own life in his own fashion? His
 
 56 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 face flushed suddenly. Well, what if he had 
 meant to try pleasure of all sorts? He hadn't 
 done it yet, but he still meant to, when the right 
 time came. Meantime he found pleasure enough 
 in mastering the details of a great business. 
 Power power yes, that was what he wanted 
 first. That was what he would have too power 
 and money and then, all that life had to offer. 
 So ran his thoughts, but every now and then 
 conscience would slip in one of those disconcert- 
 ing reminders. He would have strangled his 
 conscience willingly, had it been possible, long 
 before sleep came to his relief. 
 
 He took the train at Fall River, reaching 
 Boston before eight o'clock. In the station he 
 hesitated for a moment. Should he stop for 
 breakfast? No again urged forward by that 
 irresistible force, he passed quickly out and 
 boarded a street car. Fifteen minutes later he 
 left the car, and stopped doubtful, uncertain, 
 on a street corner. Should he go to Nan's? 
 Where should he go? Why was he here, any- 
 how? His place was not here; it was in New 
 York, in the office. He would take the next 
 train back 
 
 A man coming slowly down the street glanced 
 at him, then hurried forward and stopped before 
 him, the wonder and incredulity in his face 
 changing to a great joy. 
 
 " Theo Theo! I can hardly believe my eyes," 
 he cried, grasping Bryan's hand in a close, warm 
 grip. " And I ought to be ashamed of my sur-
 
 RECALLED 57 
 
 prise, too I ought to have expected to meet you 
 this morning." 
 
 " Why ? What do you mean ? " Bryan asked. 
 " Why should you have expected to meet me 
 when I myself hadn't the faintest idea of coming 
 until yesterday ? " 
 
 " Yesterday ? " the other questioned gravely. 
 " Didn't you think of coming until yesterday, 
 Theo?" 
 
 "Well " Bryan hesitated, "not really." 
 
 Then with an evident effort he added frankly, 
 " I'll make a clean breast of it, Allan. For a 
 week past it has seemed as if something was pull- 
 ing me back to Boston, and against my will, too, 
 for I didn't want to come. I never had such a 
 feeling before and I couldn't understand it; but 
 finally it got too strong to be resisted, and I 
 dropped everything and came what for, I don't 
 know." Then, a sudden swift anxiety springing 
 into his eyes " There isn't anything wrong with 
 Nan is there or Bennie ? " 
 
 " Nan is all right," returned the other, " but 
 Bennie Theo," he added reverently, " we have 
 been praying for your coming all the past week 
 Nan and I. God brought you here. I was 
 sure He would and yet I was surprised to see 
 you." 
 
 A strange expression half wonder, half fear 
 swept across Bryan's face, as he questioned 
 anxiously, " What's wrong with Bennie ? Is he 
 sick?" ' 
 
 Mr. Scott shook his head. " No, that would be
 
 58 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 a small matter, comparatively. But we can't talk 
 here come on home with me. Nan will be so 
 glad to see you ! " 
 
 It was but a few minutes' walk, and Nan was 
 unquestionably glad to see him. She was a 
 sweet-faced young woman of thirty or there- 
 abouts, with a blue-eyed baby in her arms and 
 another clinging to her skirts. She plumped the 
 little one into her husband's arms that her own 
 might be free to pull Bryan's face down to hers. 
 
 " Oh, Theo, if you had been here it never 
 would have happened," she sobbed, while Bryan 
 poured out swift, anxious questions. 
 
 " Sit down, Nan, and tell him quietly," Mr. 
 Scott said, pushing her gently into a chair, and 
 Nan obeyed. 
 
 " He's never been the same Bennie hasn't 
 since you went away, Theo," she began. " You 
 know how he loved you, and after you went to 
 Harvard and he began to plan to go there too, he 
 looked up to you and copied you in every way he 
 could. We used to laugh at him about it," her 
 lip quivered, but she controlled herself and hur- 
 ried on, " and you know he was so quick and 
 bright that he entered last fall without a single 
 condition as I wrote you. 
 
 " But after you went away, we noticed a 
 change in him. He was eften at the club at 
 first, talking with the boys, and with Finney and 
 Dick Hunt about you, and with others too. You 
 see," her blue eyes searched his face anxiously, 
 " you see, Theo, it had got about somehow that
 
 RECALLED 59 
 
 you were changed too that you didn't care now 
 for the things you had always cared so much for. 
 Theo, they told him that you didn't believe in 
 God any more the boys told him that, and 
 Bennie's only a boy himself, you know and he 
 got the idea that it was manly to take that stand. 
 He told Finney that what Theo believed was 
 good enough for him. Then when he entered 
 college he got to going with a set of boys who en- 
 couraged him in that sort of talk. I can't think 
 he really believed it, but you know how such 
 boys like to talk sometimes. He got in with 
 that wild set, and he's been in several scrapes this 
 past winter, and we've had trouble in getting 
 him out. I don't know what we should have 
 done if it hadn't been for the dean he has been 
 so kind! And so things have gone on all the 
 year, and now Bennie has not been home for a 
 week, and we can't find out where he is. Oh, 
 Theo, I have wanted you so ! But you wouldn't 
 
 answer my letters, and " her voice wavered 
 
 and broke, as she wiped the tears from her cheeks. 
 
 Bryan had listened in absolute silence, but the 
 conscience that had seemed to sleep through the 
 past year was wide awake now, and he shrank 
 from the things it was saying to him. He must 
 face it later he knew that but there was some- 
 thing else to be done first. 
 
 " You say Bennie has not been home for a 
 week. Tell me everything. When did he go 
 off, and where?" 
 
 " It was just after Commencement that he
 
 60 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 went, with three or four of the college boys. 
 They were to camp out for a week somewhere 
 up in the mountains in New Hampshire, Bennie 
 said." 
 
 " Well, that's all right, isn't it? " 
 
 " But," Nan quavered, " they didn't go camp- 
 ing, Theo at least, if they did, they didn't stay 
 more than a day or two, for Dick Hunt saw Ben- 
 nie and another boy coming out of Reilly's saloon 
 four days ago, and some one else saw them the 
 day after that. So we don't know where he is, 
 only of course, if everything was right, we know 
 he would come home to us. I've been almost wild 
 about it. Allan has made inquiries wherever he 
 thought Bennie might possibly be, but we can't 
 get any trace of him, and that's why we " 
 
 " You what ? " Bryan inquired, as she stopped 
 abruptly. 
 
 Nan answered in a low tone. " Theo, Allan 
 and I have been praying that you might come 
 and help us. All this week I've been asking, for 
 somehow I felt sure that God would send you 
 that He would let you find Bennie and save him 
 for us." 
 
 To that Bryan answered nothing. He asked a 
 few more questions, then caught up his hat and 
 turned towards the door, but paused to say, " I'll 
 find the boy if he is in this city, Nan. Is the 
 club still open ? " 
 
 " Yes, what there is left of it. Finney keeps 
 the rooms open, but the club has been running 
 down sadly this past year. Many of the boys
 
 RECALLED 61 
 
 hang around the saloons now as they used to do, 
 before you got hold of them," Mr. Scott told him. 
 Bryan's only response was a nod, and then he was 
 gone. 
 
 Straight to the club he went. He found a few 
 little fellows at the tables in the reading-room, 
 early as it was, and Jack Finney was busy at his 
 desk. He looked up as Bryan entered, stared in- 
 credulously for a moment, then, with a shout of 
 joy, he rushed forward with outstretched hands. 
 
 "Bryan!" he cried. " This is 'most too good 
 to be true. Do say you've come back to stay ! " 
 
 " Never mind that now," returned Bryan. 
 " I've got to find Bennie Hoyt. Tell me any- 
 thing you know about him, Jack. Scott said some 
 of the boys had seen him around Reilly's place. 
 When was that ? " 
 
 " It was Saturday that he was seen there he 
 and a fellow named Follett. They've been to- 
 gether for months, those two a bad thing for 
 Bennie. Follett's no good." 
 
 Again Bryan asked a few rapid questions, then 
 he was off, leaving Finney in a maze of doubt 
 and perplexity, while the small boys swiftly de- 
 parted to spread the news of Bryan's return. 
 
 Finney shook his head as he went back to his 
 desk. " He ain't the old Bryan yet," he said to 
 himself, " but he's a bit more like it than he was 
 that time I saw him before he went away. I hope 
 he does find Bennie Hoyt. That's another fine 
 chap gone wrong, and I reckon Bryan's respon- 
 sible for that, too."
 
 62 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 For two days and most of two nights Bryan 
 carried on the search unceasingly, but he found 
 no other trace of Bennie. The third day, at night- 
 fall, he went reluctantly back to Nan. The long 
 strain of anxiety was telling severely on her. 
 He saw that, and did his best to cheer her. 
 
 " I must rest to-night," he said, " but in the 
 morning I'll start off again. You mustn't get 
 discouraged, Nan. I'm not going to give it 
 up till I find little brother, you may be sure of 
 that." 
 
 " It's good to hear you call him that again it 
 reminds me of the old days, Theo," Nan an- 
 swered, trying to smile through the tears that 
 would come. " But it's so long ! I can't think 
 Bennie would be right here in the city all these 
 days and never come home. He would know 
 well how anxious I should be." 
 
 " Oh, such youngsters don't think," Bryan told 
 her. " And maybe he isn't in town at all. More 
 likely Follett has persuaded him to go off some- 
 where else with him. I expect they didn't like 
 the camping-place where they went first, and so 
 moved on to some other." 
 
 "But if those boys saw them here in 
 town " 
 
 " Oh, likely as not they were mistaken," Bryan 
 answered lightly. " I'm not banking much on 
 that story. I'll go to bed right after supper and 
 get a few hours' sleep ; then I'll set out again on a 
 fresh trail." 
 
 Bryan slept soundly till about midnight. Then
 
 Long and hungrily his eyes dwelt on the strong earnest 
 
 face ... the idol of his neglected boyhood, 
 
 the ideal of his later days
 
 RECALLED 63 
 
 suddenly he started up, very wide awake. Strik- 
 ing a match, he looked at his watch. It was fif- 
 teen minutes after twelve. He felt rested and re- 
 freshed, and dressed hurriedly, determined to 
 set forth at once. There were all-night places 
 which he had visited many a time before this, in 
 search of straying boys. Perhaps the boy he was 
 seeking now was in one of them. 
 
 But strangely enough, when he was ready to 
 set out the impulse to do so suddenly left him. 
 Wondering and half -bewildered, he sat down to 
 wait for what ? He did not know. As he leaned 
 back in his chair, his perplexed glance was ar- 
 rested by a picture that hung on the wall be- 
 fore him. It must have been placed there during 
 his absence the day before he was certain that 
 it had not been there previously, for he could not 
 have failed to see it. Long and hungrily his eyes 
 dwelt on the strong, earnest face with its massive, 
 noble lines how well he knew them, every one ! 
 The clear, keen, tender eyes seemed to search his 
 very soul, and his soul melted within him as he 
 looked, while in a flash memory held up before 
 him other pictures living pictures of this great, 
 good man, the idol of his neglected boyhood, 
 the ideal of his later years. Again he felt the 
 thrill that ran through him on that never-to-be- 
 forgotten Sabbath when a strong kind hand was 
 laid on his shoulder and he looked up for the first 
 time into that face, and met the tender smile that 
 won his boyish heart for all time. He saw the 
 splendid, stately figure in the pulpit, and heard
 
 64 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 again the resonant voice pouring out a swift tor- 
 rent of burning words. He saw the same mas- 
 sive figure sitting in a bare room with little 
 white-faced children in his arms and about his 
 knees, while he told them stories, and fed them 
 with sugar plums. Ah, how many such pictures 
 crowded into his mind in the silence of that mid- 
 night hour! Nor was that all. Not only the 
 tender words of comfort and sympathy, but 
 strong, solemn, heart-searching words of truth 
 and righteousness that he had heard again and 
 again from those eloquent lips how they came 
 back to him now some that he had not recalled 
 for years; some that had been ever in his heart 
 until this last year this year, when he had 
 ceased to believe in God. 
 
 No God? That great, good man whose pic- 
 tured face looked down at him had been a living 
 proof of God's existence. Bryan knew it now, 
 as he had known it all the time, even when in his 
 bitter disappointment he, like Peter, had denied 
 his Master. Peter had been forgiven and taken 
 back into companionship with his Lord. Would 
 he be taken back? Oh, yes! he knew that the 
 welcome was awaiting him, and then and there 
 Theodore Bryan reconsecrated himself and his 
 life to the Master whom, for a long year, he had 
 forsworn and forsaken. 
 
 Then he arose and went out into the night 
 went, filled with a sense of peace and happiness 
 to which he had been long a stranger. It was as 
 if he had come home after much lonely wander-
 
 RECALLED 65 
 
 ing in other lands among alien peoples. He 
 walked slowly through the silent streets, deserted 
 now by all except a few homeless prowlers of the 
 night or an occasional policeman. He knew most 
 of the policemen in this part of the city, and more 
 than one, as he passed, gave him a word of 
 friendly greeting. He did not know where he 
 was going, only that he was willing to go wher- 
 ever he might be led willing to do whatever 
 was to be done for Bennie. 
 
 At last he found himself down among the 
 wharves; and then suddenly he stood still and 
 looked about him his eyes full of memories. 
 Surely this was the very place where he had 
 brought Nan and little brother the first time he 
 ever met them. There was the very post against 
 which Nan had leaned with her baby brother in 
 her arms. He could see them now as clearly as 
 he had seen them then Nan with her big fright- 
 ened eyes that watched so anxiously the thin 
 white face of the baby in her arms. Could he 
 ever forget that strange, delightful thrill that ran 
 through him when the baby's tiny waxen fingers 
 clung for a moment about the coarse dirty finger 
 that he had poked at it? From that moment he 
 had lavished on the baby all the love of his warm 
 boyish heart love-starved until then. What had 
 he ever had to love before ? And whom had he 
 even now to love except little brother and Nan, 
 who had been like an elder sister to him? The 
 glow of early morning was dimming the street 
 lights now, and there was a beginning of move-
 
 66 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 ment and work on one or two of the vessels along 
 the wharf. Bryan leaned against the post watch- 
 ing, and waiting for, he knew not what. 
 
 Soon sailors were at work on several of the 
 vessels, especially on one where there seemed to 
 be considerable stir and bustle. It must be about 
 to sail, Bryan concluded. Then his eye was 
 caught by a figure coming down along the 
 wharves. It was too dark yet to see distinctly 
 at that distance, but something in the pose the 
 quick, light step made Bryan lean eagerly for- 
 ward, his eyes strained, his breath coming 
 quickly. He moved around in the shadow of the 
 big post and watched the tall, slight young fellow 
 as he came steadily on. When he was quite near 
 he paused, glancing uncertainly at two vessels 
 lying close together. Quietly, then, Bryan 
 stepped forward, and laid his hand on the boy's 
 shoulder. Instantly the lad whirled around, in- 
 stinctively flinging off the hand; but as he saw 
 who stood beside him, his face changed and he 
 cried out joyfully: 
 
 " Theo ! Is it really and truly you ? When 
 did you come ? " 
 
 For a moment the two stood, their hands on 
 each other's shoulders, both faces full of a glad- 
 ness too deep for words. Then suddenly the 
 radiance died out of Bennie Hoyt's eyes, and he 
 dropped his hands. 
 
 "Oh, why didn't you come before, Theo?" 
 he cried out roughly. 
 
 The question brought a shadow over Bryan's
 
 RECALLED 67 
 
 face too. He answered sadly, " Bennie, I've been 
 wondering if I can ever forgive myself for not 
 coming before for ever going away as I did. 
 But come on we mustn't stop here. I've a great 
 deal to tell you." 
 
 " And I " Bennie began ; then he gave a 
 
 troubled glance at the vessel nearest them. 
 " Theo, I'm going away on that ship. She sails 
 this morning for South America." 
 
 "You mean you were going, Bennie. You 
 won't go now ? " Bryan's voice was full of 
 pleading. 
 
 A sullen gleam darkened the boy's frank blue 
 eyes; his young mouth hardened into obstinate 
 lines. " Yes, I've signed. I'm going to work 
 my passage. It's the best thing," he said hastily. 
 " I've made a fool of myself worse than a fool. 
 Nan's told you, of course. I'm not going to hang 
 'round here, the black sheep of the family. I 
 can make a fresh start down there perhaps." 
 
 " No, Bennie, make the fresh start here, with 
 me. We're in the same box, you and I," Bryan 
 said. 
 
 The lad turned on his friend's face a keen, 
 searching glance. 
 
 " I don't believe it," he said. " You look as 
 straight as ever." 
 
 The words and the glance sent a sharp pang 
 through Bryan's heart. In his turn he looked 
 long into the boyish face, and after a moment the 
 frank blue eyes shifted uneasily and a hot flush 
 crept slowly up to the lad's fair hair.
 
 68 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 Then Bryan flung his arm across the boy's 
 shoulders with a quick, affectionate motion. 
 " Bennie," he said, " you are ashamed of the rec- 
 ord you've made this past year, just as I'm 
 ashamed of mine, but we're both young and 
 strong. We can right about face here and now, 
 and we're going to do it both of us. Bennie " 
 something in Bryan's voice now stirred the 
 depths of the lad's heart " Bennie, it was on 
 this very wharf that Nan and you and I sat that 
 first day Nan has told you about it lots of 
 times. You know, laddie, how you crept into 
 my heart that day, and from that hour to this 
 you've been dearer to me than any one else in all 
 the world, except that one who " Bryan rev- 
 erently bared his head " meant more to me than 
 all other men. Have you thought, Bennie, that 
 you and Nan are all I have to really care for? 
 If you were of my own blood thank Heaven 
 you're not ! you could not be any dearer to me. 
 And, Bennie, I feel that I'm to blame for it all 
 I mean all that's been wrong in your life this past 
 year. If I had not deserted, you never would 
 have thought of doing so. So you see, for my 
 sake as well as Nan's, we've got to make good 
 together you and I." 
 
 Bennie's head was drooping. He leaned 
 against the post, idly scraping the loose dirt on 
 the planks with his foot. 
 
 Bryan went on, still in that low, earnest, ap- 
 pealing tone, " And Nan laddie, you know how 
 Nan loves you better if possible than she loves
 
 'I'll get you free, never you doubt that"
 
 RECALLED 69 
 
 those two babies of hers. Bennie, you can't 
 break Nan's heart." 
 
 Bennie swallowed in silence. Finally he said, 
 still without lifting his eyes, " I've signed, I told 
 you." He threw out his hand towards the ship. 
 
 " I'll make that all right," Bryan cried quickly. 
 
 Suddenly the boy flung back his head. 
 " What's the use, Theo ? " he demanded moodily. 
 " I can't make it go here, now. Nan's told you, 
 I suppose, what a fizzle I've made of it at college. 
 I'm in with Follett's crowd and it's a regular 
 devil- fish!" His face darkened. "You can't 
 get clear of a crowd like that, once you get in. 
 You cut one tentacle only to find half a dozen 
 more hauling you down deeper and deeper." 
 
 " I'll get you free, never you doubt that," 
 Bryan asserted confidently. " Bennie, it's absurd 
 for a boy like you to allow those fellows to run 
 you out of town. You are man enough to cut 
 free from them and be a man; and remember, 
 we are to stand by each other you and I. 
 We've both lost a year. Well, that's bad, but 
 with God's help we'll make it up, and " 
 
 He stopped abruptly, seeing that Bennie was 
 staring at him in wide-eyed wonder. 
 
 " What's the matter? " he demanded. 
 
 "Why, I I " Bennie flushed and stam- 
 mered, " I thought you'd chucked all that." 
 
 It was Bryan's turn then to flush. 
 
 " Laddie," he said, his voice low and tense, 
 " you remember that old story of the prodigal 
 son? Well, I've come home, sore ashamed, and
 
 70 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 I don't think the Father will ever let me wander 
 off again nor you either brother." 
 
 A glad light swept the gloom from the boy's 
 blue eyes. It was not easy to speak of these 
 things, not even to Theo, but he began hurriedly, 
 as if afraid that his courage would fail. " 'Twas 
 that more than anything else, Theo, that was at 
 the bottom of all this with me. I felt oh, I can't 
 ever tell you how I felt when they said you didn't 
 believe in in God don't you know and all 
 that. It seemed to me that, with you gone and 
 God gone, Theo, there wasn't anything left to 
 to hang to." 
 
 He looked appealingly into Bryan's eyes, fear- 
 ful that he would not understand, but his face 
 cleared as the other answered quickly: 
 
 " I know I understand just how you felt, 
 but it's all right, Bennie all right for both of 
 us. You'll never doubt it when I tell you the 
 story of this night of this past week. Now," 
 he added, with a quick change of tone, " you stay 
 here while I interview the captain. That looks 
 like the captain there on deck and then we'll 
 go home to Nan. And then you and I will begin 
 all over again." 
 
 Bennie waited anxiously while Bryan had a 
 long and evidently a stormy interview with the 
 captain. He never knew just how it was ac- 
 complished, but he drew a long breath of relief 
 and satisfaction when his friend at last returned 
 to him and said: 
 
 " It's all right, laddie. Now for home and Nan."
 
 A YEAR OF WAITING 
 
 AFTER Bennie's return the days were all 
 too short for the many things that Bryan 
 wanted to do. Bennie followed him about 
 like his shadow, a new and pathetic humility 
 often in his frank blue eyes, but that too seemed 
 almost like a reflection from Theo's. Both car- 
 ried in their hearts haunting memories of days 
 they counted lost, and both were eager to atone. 
 But they had to learn, each for himself, that we 
 cannot in one day undo the evil of the many 
 days that are past. For Bryan there were bit- 
 ter moments when he sought in vain for the 
 boys who, a year before, had been often at the 
 club, reaching out towards better things. Now 
 they had drifted away or slipped back into the 
 old dark channels among the old evil associates. 
 It seemed to Bryan unaccountable that the club 
 should have gone to pieces as it had in so little 
 while. But as Finney explained, " The heart 
 seemed all taken out of it after you left, Bryan, 
 though Mr. Scott and Dick and I did our best. 
 But you have a way with the boys that the rest 
 of us haven't. They'll do anything you ask 'em 
 to, you know that." 
 
 71
 
 72 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 "If that's so, the more shame to me for de- 
 serting the poor chaps," Bryan returned. He 
 stood for a moment in thoughtful silence, then 
 rousing himself, added, " Well, it won't help 
 matters to worry over it. The thing now is to 
 get the boys back. Let's post at the door a 
 notice of a grand rally for all club members, 
 past and present with refreshments. That will 
 bring them, I think." 
 
 " You sign it, Theo that'll do more good 
 than the promise of ice cream to bring the 
 boys in." 
 
 " All right. You do your best with the letter- 
 ing of the notice use plenty of red ink and 
 tag my name to it if you think that will help 
 any. Better put it on Wednesday evening. I 
 must get back as soon as I can." 
 
 " Back ? " echoed Finney, his face lengthen- 
 ing. " Why, aren't you going to stay ? " 
 
 " I am that, Jack ! " was Bryan's quick re- 
 sponse. " But of course I must go back first 
 and settle up things in New York. I've signed 
 a contract for another year there, but I'm hoping 
 that Mr. Marston will be willing to let me off. 
 If he doesn't why, then you'll have to run the 
 club alone for a while longer, but I'll find a 
 way to help, even if it is at long range for a 
 while. So don't worry, old man." His hand 
 fell on Finney's shoulder in friendly assurance. 
 
 " Well " Finney answered doubtfully, " but 
 
 1 guess he'll have to let you off, Bryan. We 
 need you more'n he can."
 
 A YEAR OF WAITING 73 
 
 Bryan did not trust to the notice at the door 
 alone, though Jack, who was skilful with pen 
 and brush, outdid himself in brilliant red let- 
 tering; but he hunted up some of the most 
 trusty of the old club workers and members, 
 and sent them out to round up all the wander- 
 ers and stragglers they could find, and the re- 
 sult was such a crowd that the rooms were liter- 
 ally packed. And Bryan, his heart warming at 
 the sight of so many familiar faces and the 
 ready response to his invitation Bryan gave 
 them a short earnest talk from the very depths 
 of his own heart. Every word rang true and 
 the boys felt it. Their hard, rough faces, 
 softened and earnest now, were lifted to his, 
 and with a great gladness he realised that he 
 had not lost his hold on his boys; and in his 
 own soul he vowed that never again would he 
 fail them. 
 
 " Say, Bryan, that was a mistake about your 
 voice, wasn't it? It's jest as strong as ever," 
 Finney said to him later in the evening. 
 
 Bryan turned to him with a start. " I forgot 
 all about it," he said. Then he added, " It's all 
 right if I use it occasionally, but it wouldn't be 
 if I should speak often. Anyhow, I'm glad that 
 I could talk to the boys to-night. Finney, it's 
 a grand thing to be able to give them a lift. 
 I know how it is many of them would never 
 have any chance if we didn't help them." 
 
 Finney nodded, his eyes full of deep feeling. 
 " Don't I know ? " he returned. " I know even
 
 74 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 better than you do, Bryan. I ain't likely ever 
 to forget what you did for me in the old days. 
 Think what I'd be now but for you ! " 
 
 Bryan held out his hand, and as Finney grasped 
 it, said in a low tone, " Think what I'd be now, 
 Finney, but for one good man. I've only tried 
 in my poor way to ' pass on ' the great good 
 that came to me through him." 
 
 The few days that followed were filled to 
 overflowing for Bryan. Besides the club boys, 
 there were many of his former charges to be 
 looked up, and there were hours spent with 
 Jack Finney and Dick Hunt in planning for 
 the club boys, and for other things that he 
 had in mind to undertake. 
 
 The last day Bennie hung about him with such 
 a disconsolate face that Bryan finally said to 
 him, " It's only for a little while that I'm go- 
 ing, laddie, and you'll be busy making a record 
 at dear old Harvard making Nan proud as a 
 peacock of her little-big brother, and after 
 that " 
 
 " Ah," put in the boy, his blue eyes glowing, 
 " after that, Theo, we'll do things you and I." 
 
 As Bryan looked into the eager, intense young 
 face, his heart was wrung with a swift pang 
 of foreboding. What would life mean to a 
 spirit like this, fine, true, strong in certain ways, 
 but so intense and sensitive, and keyed to so 
 high a pitch? He felt a great longing to shel- 
 ter the boy from the pain and sorrow of the 
 world to guard him from sin and evil. Ben-
 
 A YEAR OF WAITING 75 
 
 nie's blue eyes questioned him, and he answered 
 the silent inquiry. 
 
 " I was wondering thinking of the years to 
 come, years that you and I are going to spend 
 ' lending a hand.' Think, Bennie boy, of all 
 the forlorn little souls, straying to-day in courts 
 and alleys, that we are going to bring into our 
 ' home ' and our club, and turn into good, hon- 
 est men into true splendid American men ! 
 Isn't that something worth living for, laddie ? " 
 
 " It's something to live up to, Theo," the 
 boy cried with trembling lips, " and I'm going to 
 try oh, I'm going to try hard this next year, 
 Theo!" 
 
 " And I, little brother," and the two hands 
 met in a grip that hurt. 
 
 That was their real good-bye. When, the next 
 day, Nan and her husband and Bennie went to 
 the great, noisy station to see Bryan off, they 
 were all rather silent. Their hearts were too 
 full for commonplace speech and the deeper 
 words had been spoken before. 
 
 Now as the train began to move, he swung 
 himself on to the step with the warm good-byes 
 ringing in his ears. But these were not quite 
 the last farewells either, for as he settled back 
 in his seat he saw a group of boys perched on 
 a bank beside the track, and as he leaned to- 
 wards the window a shout broke from a score 
 of rough boyish voices. 
 
 "What's the matter with Bryan? He's all 
 right ! " they yelled in chorus, the while they
 
 76 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 frantically waved their old straw hats and rag- 
 ged caps. There was barely time for Bryan to 
 fling up the window and wave his hand in re- 
 sponse, and they were gone ; but the hearty boy- 
 ish tribute sent him on his way with wet eyes 
 and a full heart. How well he remembered 
 when he had been just such a boy as these, and he 
 could almost see himself homely, little, freckled 
 Tode Bryan waving his cap from the top of a 
 high fence to Nan and little brother, as the 
 train swept by, carrying them far away, and 
 leaving him lonely and desolate in the great city. 
 
 In Boston it had seemed to Bryan not a 
 difficult thing for him to present the matter in 
 such a light that Mr. Marston would be willing 
 to release him, in spite of the signed contract; 
 but the nearer he came to New York the more 
 his doubts increased, and he was by no means 
 confident of success when he went to the office 
 the morning after his return. Mr. Marston gave 
 him a cordial welcome, but as he listened to what 
 Bryan had to say, his genial smile vanished, and 
 his face hardened into lines of determination. 
 Bryan told his story frankly, as frankly that is 
 as he could to one who, he felt, was not in 
 sympathy with the motives that influenced him. 
 When he stopped, chilled by the atmosphere of 
 unresponsive coldness, Mr. Marston said quietly : 
 
 "You signed the two-year contract of your 
 own free will, did you not?" 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 " Very well then, there is no more to be said.
 
 A YEAR OF WAITING 77 
 
 I cannot release you until the end of the two 
 years, and let me tell you, Bryan, I consider that 
 I should be doing you anything but a kindness 
 if I should. In a year from now you will thank 
 me for holding you to our agreement at least, 
 I shall be very much surprised if you do not." 
 
 Bryan rose. " I am sorry, Mr. Marston," he 
 said, " but of course you are quite within your 
 rights, and I have no reason at least, no right, 
 to complain. I hoped I could make you feel 
 as I do, that there are considerations of more 
 real importance than anything of a business 
 nature. But since you claim it, my time be- 
 longs to you for another year, and I shall do 
 my best to serve you well. Have you any or- 
 ders or instructions for me, sir?" 
 
 " Not now. I'll see what there is and send 
 for you later," was the reply; and when Bryan 
 had left the office, Mr. Marston sat for a long 
 time with his head on his hand. He could not 
 understand how a young man so eminently fitted 
 for a successful business career as Bryan un- 
 questionably was could think for a moment of 
 throwing up such an opportunity as he had now 
 before him. It was simply incomprehensible. 
 
 But Ted, when he heard of it, rushed straight- 
 way to his friend's room, and seizing both his 
 hands, shook them till Bryan laughingly begged 
 for mercy. 
 
 " Because, you see, I may want to use my 
 arms again some day," he said, pushing Teddy 
 into a chair. " And now if you will kindly
 
 78 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 inform me what all this demonstration is 
 about ?" 
 
 Then he discovered that Ted's eyes were grave 
 and earnest, and so was his voice as he said 
 slowly, " Bryan, it's because I'm so glad that 
 you've found yourself once more. Father's 
 been telling me how you wanted to fling up 
 your chance here and go back to your boys in 
 Boston. Jove! Old fellow," he eyed the other 
 curiously, searchingly, " do you actually realise 
 what it is that you were coolly proposing to 
 give up? Why, father says you've the best 
 head for business of any man on his force, 
 though of course there are others worth more 
 now because of their longer experience. He 
 guarantees that you'll be a rich man in five years 
 if you stay on, a rich man, Bryan ! And you're 
 willing to throw it all up ! " 
 
 " Money isn't the most important thing there 
 is in life, Marston. You know that as well as 
 I do." 
 
 "Yes, but I know that money is a mighty 
 good thing to have, all the same, and don't you 
 forget that! You can't carry out your charity 
 schemes without money, loads of it. Why not 
 then stay on here and make your pile and, after 
 it is made, then go into your other work eh ? " 
 
 " I might not have the chance then or the 
 inclination," Bryan replied gravely. " Men are 
 more in demand than money for my work. The 
 money will come all right when it is needed 
 it always does."
 
 A YEAR OF WAITING 79 
 
 " Well," Marston responded, " you know, old 
 friend, that I feel you've done the right thing 
 even though I see so clearly father's point of 
 view. Having ' found yourself,' I understand 
 that you couldn't do otherwise. And now, what 
 do you say to taking me as an assistant when 
 your year here is up ? " 
 
 " Are you in earnest, Ted ? " 
 
 " I wonder," replied Ted, dropping into a 
 chair. " Honest now, Bryan, I'm not quite sure 
 myself. Shouldn't be surprised, though, if I 
 should decide to give it a try for a year or so, 
 if you'll take me in at your settlement, or what- 
 ever you call the place. It is some sort of 
 settlement work that you are planning, isn't it ? " 
 
 " Ultimately, yes." 
 
 " But not at first ? What are you going to do 
 first, then ? " 
 
 " To build up the club again it has run 
 down badly this past year. Then perhaps I 
 may go into some settlement already established, 
 for a while. Meantime, I've an idea in my head 
 that I think I can work out this year in New 
 York." 
 
 "What's that?" 
 
 Bryan explained slowly, " I've always had a 
 deal of faith in manual labour handicrafts and 
 that sort of thing, you know and it has oc- 
 curred to me that it would not be a bad idea 
 to establish a shop of some sort down near a 
 settlement house, or near where I mean to have 
 one as soon as the way opens. I like to work
 
 80 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 with tools pretty well myself, and I'm thinking 
 of taking a regular course here evenings; then 
 you see I can teach the boys, and perhaps at 
 the same time build up a business that will, 
 after a while, bring in a steady income for the 
 other part of my work." 
 
 " Mission furniture, iron work, and all that 
 sort of thing?" Ted enquired with interest. 
 
 " Yes, something like that, but mind you, it 
 isn't any big manual training school I'm plan- 
 ning nothing of that sort. I don't know as I can 
 make my idea clear to you, but a shop where good 
 honest furniture is made and sold at a fair price 
 that's what I have in mind, and me for the 
 master workman. You see it's just a sort of 
 carpenter, I'm planning to be, that's all." 
 
 Teddy was not dull. The almost imperceptible 
 pause by which Bryan separated that one word 
 " carpenter " from the rest was not lost on him ; 
 but he said only, " I see." Then after a pause 
 he started up briskly. " Well, old man, you're 
 a trump, and as I've observed before, I'm no end 
 glad that you've found yourself again, and," he 
 had the door open now, but he waited to add, 
 " and maybe I may have a finger in that pie too, 
 when it's baked." Then he vanished, leaving 
 Bryan wondering how much he really did mean.
 
 VI 
 
 GREEN TREE HOUSE 
 
 ON a dreary, narrow street lined on either 
 side with long rows of cheap houses, all 
 dingy and dirty and all swarming with 
 dirty, ragged children, there stood an old frame 
 house that had evidently been built long before 
 the dismal brick rows that now surrounded it. 
 A square house it was with high steps going 
 up sidewise to a door in the centre, and under 
 these two or three shallow steps leading down 
 to the lower story, which was really a high 
 basement. Above the basement the house had 
 two stories and an attic with dormer windows. 
 A wide hall divided the first floor, running from 
 front to back, where it opened onto a broad 
 porch overlooking a yard in which some ancient 
 lilac bushes and a sturdy old elm were all that 
 remained of the garden that had once been 
 there. The place was part of an estate that 
 had long been held in trust for heirs who could 
 not be located. 
 
 For years the old house had stood empty and 
 forlorn, its yard a dumping-ground for the rub- 
 bish and ashes of its neighbours, while the white 
 paint faded and peeled from its clapboards and 
 81
 
 82 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 doors, the shingles curled up and blew off its 
 roof, the bricks tumbled from its chimneys, and 
 its once green blinds were carried off for kindling 
 wood. Because of the great elm that spread its 
 green branches over the roof through all the 
 spring and summer days, the house was known in 
 the neighbourhood as the Green Tree House. 
 
 But there came a day when footsteps and 
 voices sounded once more in the long-silent 
 rooms of the old house; and then a placard, 
 " For Sale," appeared in one of the windows. 
 It did not remain there long, however, for the 
 man who put it up had barely gotten out of 
 sight before a score of ragged urchins, who had 
 been hanging around the steps to see what was 
 going to be done, were using it for a target. 
 They were, most of them, expert stone-throwers. 
 In fifteen minutes there was not a whole pane 
 of glass left in the window, and the card had 
 disappeared. After that the boys took to their 
 heels, one of their number having announced 
 the approach of a " cop." 
 
 But a few days later the boys had something 
 else to investigate about the old house, for work- 
 men came and began to do all sorts of things 
 to it. They rebuilt the chimney-tops, reshingled 
 the roof, replaced missing panes of glass and 
 missing blinds, put in modern plumbing and 
 bathrooms, and finally painted the old walls out- 
 side and the woodwork inside, from attic to 
 not to basement: the basement was left as it 
 was inside but from attic to first floor inclusive.
 
 GREEN TREE HOUSE 83 
 
 And then a blue-coated officer with a rich Irish 
 brogue gave the neighbourhood youngsters to 
 understand that further target-practice on the 
 windows would be costly and dangerous for 
 them. 
 
 So, for a few days, the old house stood in the 
 glory of its new paint, the wonder and admira- 
 tion of the neighbourhood until, one bright sum- 
 mer morning, an agent appeared with two young 
 men, who seemed to be especially interested in 
 the basement. Rather an unusual basement it 
 was, as might be expected in such a house. It 
 had two large square rooms in front, and behind 
 these was a kitchen, and three or four smaller 
 rooms, one of them half full of rubbish. Dark 
 as a pocket they were too, owing to the fact that 
 their windows were not only securely grated, 
 but boarded up inside the gratings, so that 
 neither prowling boys nor prowling cats could 
 gain access. 
 
 The two young men were pleased with the 
 rooms. They did not go upstairs. The agent 
 informed them that the basement only was for 
 rent. Who was to occupy the rest of the house ? 
 That he was not at liberty to say. Well, they 
 liked the basement. They would pay a month's 
 rent in advance, and move in in a day or two. 
 
 But no, the agent informed them that the 
 matter could not be settled thus off hand. They 
 or the one of them who would be responsible 
 for the rent the younger of the two nodded 
 towards his companion as indicating that he was
 
 84 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 the responsible one well then, he would have 
 to call at the office and answer certain ques- 
 tions before it could be decided whether or not 
 the basement would be rented to him. 
 
 " All right, we'll go along with you and settle 
 it now," said the older of the two promptly. 
 
 But it appeared that this could not be, either. 
 The agent, somewhat uncertain and confused ap- 
 parently, was sure of one thing that the matter 
 could not possibly be settled that day. The next 
 morning perhaps indeed probably but not that 
 day, under any circumstances. 
 
 Very well then, they would be at the office the 
 next morning. So they stepped outside, the 
 agent locked up the basement and departed, 
 leaving the two would-be tenants looking in- 
 quiringly into each other's faces, on the door- 
 steps. ^ 
 
 " What do you think it means ? Why on earth 
 wouldn't he let you hire the place to-day ? " the 
 younger one queried. 
 
 " I can't imagine why ; nor why he should act 
 confused as he certainly did," the other replied. 
 "If the owner is willing to have any sort of a 
 shop here, he can't object to ours, I should 
 think." 
 
 "Or to us," added the other with a laugh. 
 " I'm sure we're exemplary citizens and honest 
 workingmen." 
 
 The other smiled into the laughing face of 
 his friend. "You a workingman, Ted! " he re- 
 torted. " You look it. don't you ? "
 
 GREEN TREE HOUSE 85 
 
 Ted Marston cast a doubtful glance down at 
 his tailored garments. " Oh, come now, Bryan," 
 he returned, " I don't see why these togs won't 
 pass muster. They're ancient enough, Heaven 
 knows. Why, I've had 'em over a year." 
 
 " All the same you'll find that they're a cut 
 above what our neighbours here are wearing. 
 For instance, that specimen across the way." 
 
 " Oh, Lord ! " groaned Teddy. " Bryan, you 
 don't expect me to wear that sort of thing! 
 Come now, that's asking a little too much." 
 
 " But I'm not asking it. Wear what you like, 
 of course, only don't be surprised if the boys 
 are stand-offish." 
 
 "Oh, they'll get over my clothes, I reckon," 
 Marston returned easily. " But really, Bryan, 
 I think there's something mighty queer about 
 this business. That agent sure was keeping 
 something back. Maybe there is something ob- 
 jectionable about the place. There must be, I 
 think, else it would surely have been snapped up 
 by somebody before this. No other we've looked 
 at compares with it." 
 
 " I've been wondering about that myself," 
 Bryan responded. " I'll send some of the club 
 boys down to-night down here, I mean. They'll 
 find out all about the place trust them for that ! " 
 
 The boys were sent down, and the report that 
 they brought back satisfied Bryan, but left him 
 yet more perplexed over the agent's refusal to 
 rent the place that day. 
 
 So, promptly the next morning the two young
 
 86 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 men presented themselves at his office, and were 
 politely requested to await the coming of the 
 head of the firm, who wished to see them. They 
 had waited with rapidly diminishing patience 
 for upwards of an hour, when an elderly lady 
 entered the office. The agent greeted her with 
 an air of respect, and Bryan noticed that he called 
 her Mrs. Knowles. As soon as she was seated, 
 the agent disappeared through a side door, and 
 a moment later the head of the firm came in 
 through the same door. He bowed to the lady, 
 and then at once turned to Bryan and began 
 to question him. He asked a great many ques- 
 tions in a very deliberate fashion, and presently, 
 as if tired of waiting, the elderly lady rose to 
 go away. The agent started up hastily and fol- 
 lowed her to the door, where a few words passed 
 between them in a low tone. Then he returned 
 and wrote a line on a slip of paper, which he 
 presently handed to his chief, who read it in an 
 absent-minded fashion and then, tossing it into 
 a waste basket, turned abruptly to Bryan. 
 
 " I think I understand now what you pro- 
 pose to do with this handicraft shop of yours. 
 Your references are all right, and you can have 
 the rooms at the price named. Any changes, in 
 reason, or really necessary repairs, will be made 
 for you by the owner." 
 
 Five minutes later the papers were signed, and 
 Bryan had the keys in his pocket. 
 
 " Now we're all right," he exulted when, with 
 Teddy keeping step beside him, he was walking
 
 GREEN TREE HOUSE 87 
 
 briskly back to the new quarters. " And I tell 
 you, Mr. Teddy Marston, we are in luck to get 
 the place at that figure. We haven't seen any- 
 thing else half so good for the price, and we 
 certainly have scoured the neighbourhood." 
 
 " But consider the neighbourhood," Teddy re- 
 minded him. " It wouldn't be an easy thing 
 to get a good tenant to locate there. What I'd 
 like to know, is what kind of neighbours we're 
 going to have over our heads." 
 
 " If those fellows at the office are as particular 
 with other applicants as they were with us, the 
 neighbours are likely to be all right," Bryan re- 
 turned unconcernedly. " And anyhow, we 
 needn't have anything to do with them, if they 
 aren't." He stopped at a cross street, adding, 
 " I'm going to Nan's to get some of my old 
 clothes. I think I'll clear out that rubbish from 
 the side room myself. I'll bring Bennie back 
 with me to help, if he's at home." 
 
 "What's the matter with me for a helper?" 
 Teddy demanded. 
 
 Bryan's eyes twinkled as he flashed a glance 
 over his friend's figure. " Shall I bring along 
 a pair of overalls for you ? " he asked. 
 
 " That's right do," was the unexpected reply. 
 " Who knows what rare antiques may be buried 
 in those dark corners ? I mean to have a share, 
 mind that, Bryan, and I'll be on hand to make 
 sure I get 'em." 
 
 " Well, go ahead then and unearth your treas- 
 ures," laughed Bryan, pulling the keys from his
 
 88 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 pocket and handing them to his friend. " I'll 
 be back before you have time to secrete your 
 spoil." 
 
 When he came back to the old house he found 
 Teddy sitting on the steps, with a crowd of 
 deeply interested and curious youngsters of as- 
 sorted sizes grouped about him but not too 
 close. He looked up with a whimsical smile as 
 Bryan appeared. 
 
 " Our first callers," he said, with a glance at 
 the motley gathering; then to the children, who 
 were pressing eagerly forward " No, no, ladies 
 and gentlemen, we're not ready yet for callers, 
 inside some other day. Shoo now ! " He 
 waved them off as he rose, and they reluctantly 
 withdrew a few steps; but the instant the two 
 young men had gone in and shut the door be- 
 hind them, the children swarmed about the win- 
 dows and flattened their noses as many as 
 could against the glass, as they peered curi- 
 ously in. 
 
 " Never mind, let 'em peek if they want to," 
 Bryan said. " There isn't much for them to see, 
 and they couldn't see through those dirty win- 
 dows if there was." 
 
 Teddy nodded; then eyeing a basket that 
 Bryan had set down, he enquired, " Lunch ? " 
 
 " Yes," Bryan replied, immediately snatching 
 up the basket again and putting it in a closet, 
 which he locked, " but no ' pickings ' yet awhile, 
 Mr. Marston. You've got to earn that lunch by 
 ' the sweat of your brow,' remember."
 
 GREEN TREE HOUSE 89 
 
 " What must be must be," Teddy returned re- 
 signedly. " And the overalls ? " 
 
 Bryan untied a bundle he had brought, and 
 flung a pair of overalls towards him ; then stood 
 back and shouted at the figure Ted made with 
 them on. 
 
 " You shouldn't, Bryan you might hurt my 
 feelings, don't you know ! " Teddy remonstrated, 
 as he fumbled with the straps. " Now then, up 
 and at it ! " 
 
 For an hour the two worked with a will, but 
 the only ' rare antiques ' they unearthed were 
 some rusty iron pots, and some cracked and 
 broken crockery. All the rest was odds and ends 
 of lumber, loose bricks, rusty stovepipes, and the 
 like rubbish. When all this was removed there 
 was disclosed an old chimney with a brick 
 mantelpiece. 
 
 "If there was only a fireplace under that, it 
 would be jolly," Ted exclaimed. 
 
 " Yes, we'd make a rousing fire in it right 
 now ! " mocked Bryan, mopping his hot forehead. 
 
 Ted made no reply, but pulling out his knife, 
 he began picking away at the brickwork under 
 the mantelpiece. Presently he gave a whoop 
 and shouted for Bryan, who was busy in an- 
 other room. 
 
 " Found an ' antique ' ? " Bryan enquired, pre- 
 senting a face adorned with a big black smooch. 
 
 "I have that!" was the emphatic response. 
 " Just fling your eye in there and see if I 
 haven't."
 
 90 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 " In there " was an opening in the brickwork. 
 Ted struck a match and held it close to the 
 opening, and Bryan could see that there was a 
 big old-fashioned fireplace that had evidently 
 been roughly and carelessly bricked up long 
 before. 
 
 " That's jolly, Ted ! " he cried, his eyes shining 
 with satisfaction. " It will mean a lot to have 
 an open fire here winter evenings. Let's pull 
 all the bricks down and see what it looks like," 
 he added with boyish impatience. 
 
 The bricks removed, it looked like a gen- 
 erous old-fashioned fireplace with an ancient 
 crane black with rust and soot, but still strong 
 and fit to hold a kettle. 
 
 " Tell me that there are no treasures here ! " 
 exulted Ted. " Now remember, Mr. Bryan 
 this is my find, and I claim the right to use it 
 when I choose. Also to supply a cord or two 
 of hard wood to burn in it. Granted? " 
 
 " Granted," Bryan assented. " You shall make 
 a roaring fire here this very hour if you choose. 
 Here's stuff enough to burn." 
 
 But even Ted's enthusiasm was not equal to 
 a roaring wood fire in July. He could wait, he 
 said. That fireplace would keep. 
 
 A pounding on the door announced a new ar- 
 rival, and Ted hastened to admit Bennie. He 
 had already made friends with Nan and her 
 family, and now he pulled the boy in, slamming 
 the door hastily behind him to shut out the chil- 
 dren, who still hung about the steps and windows.
 
 GREEN TREE HOUSE 91 
 
 Bennie was loaded with pails and brushes and 
 a big bag of lime. 
 
 " I'm going to help Theo whitewash the 
 walls," he explained, in response to Ted's 
 questions. 
 
 " But why do that yourself?" Ted demanded, 
 turning to Bryan. " It must be a nasty, messy 
 job; we'd much better hire a man. Besides, 
 didn't the agent say the owner would do what- 
 ever was needed ? " 
 
 Bryan, busily sweeping dirt and cobwebs from 
 the walls and ceiling, answered quietly, " Yes, 
 but I'm going to do it myself and let him pay 
 me, instead of somebody else, for the job." 
 
 Teddy burst out laughing. 
 
 " Well," questioned Bryan, " what is there so 
 funny about that ? " 
 
 " It is funny," Teddy answered, " to think 
 how my father would look if he could see you 
 doing it. He'd say you were a fool to do work 
 that you could hire done for a few dollars 
 when you might be earning twenty times as much 
 in the time." He was laughing when he began, 
 but he was quite grave as he concluded. So 
 was Bryan as he answered : 
 
 " Yes, from his point of view it would be 
 foolish, but you see, Ted, money-making is his 
 business. It isn't mine." 
 
 " Yes, I understand that," Teddy replied, 
 " but he can't. You see he has never before 
 run across a fellow who would turn down such 
 an offer as he made you."
 
 92 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 " It did tempt me, Ted I acknowledge it," 
 Bryan said slowly. " You see I like few things 
 better than getting right into the thick of a big 
 business. The liking for it grew on me so this 
 past year that it was no easy thing to give it 
 all up. To manage a great business like your 
 father's to feel that you can do it that you 
 have the ability; that you can reach out and 
 control other men and interests, and make lots 
 of money at the same time, and make it hon- 
 estly ah ! " He caught his breath quickly. 
 " I never wonder now that so many men give 
 themselves up to it, heart and soul. It gets hold 
 of them, and they can't give it up. It would 
 have been that way with me if I had staid with 
 your father." 
 
 Ted was watching him curiously, and Bennie, 
 grave and silent, watched and listened too. 
 
 "If you feel that way about it, maybe you'll 
 get back into it after a while," Teddy suggested, 
 but Bryan shook his head. 
 
 " No," he said with quick decision, " no. It 
 may be all right for some men; it isn't for me. 
 I can't afford to spend my life in money-getting 
 when there are so many finer things to do." He 
 turned to the boy at his side. " Bennie and I 
 are going into a partnership of another sort 
 eh, laddie?" he added, dropping his hand af- 
 fectionately on the boy's shoulder; then sud- 
 denly flinging grave thoughts aside, he brought 
 out the lunch basket, and the three made a 
 merry meal together.
 
 GREEN TREE HOUSE 93 
 
 A week later, except for the shining white- 
 ness of the walls, the shop looked as if work 
 might have been going on there for years. In 
 one of the large front rooms Bryan was at work 
 on a table, a solid, substantial piece of furniture, 
 though made of the cheapest wood that could be 
 used to advantage. Several other pieces, some 
 in process of making, a few ready for use, 
 stood about, and the place was fragrant with the 
 clean, slightly spicy odour of the shavings that 
 littered the floor. From the other front room 
 sounded a cheery whistle, and presently Ted 
 came across the hall with a piece of Florentine 
 ironwork in his hand. 
 
 " Rather neat, isn't it ? " he said lightly, as he 
 held it up for inspection. 
 
 " Fine ! " Bryan declared. " We shall soon 
 have boys clamouring to learn that sort of thing." 
 
 Teddy raised his brows. " To tell the truth, 
 Bryan, I'm only afraid they will. Making things 
 like this down here with you, you understand, is 
 a mildly exhilarating form of employment that 
 I find rather entertaining for a change. But 
 to teach such specimens of young America as I 
 see outside your doors well, if I must come In 
 contact with that sort, I'd really prefer to do it 
 in cooler weather, and at long range, don't you 
 know?" 
 
 Bryan shook his head in silence, and turned 
 again to his work. Teddy glanced doubtfully 
 once or twice at the broad back; finally he set 
 his bit of ironwork on the mantelpiece, and with
 
 94 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 his hands in his pockets, stood looking out of 
 the window. 
 
 " I wonder now," he drawled after a few mo- 
 ments' silence, " if this young gentleman with 
 the mismatched legs can be one of those eager 
 pupils you've been promising me; because if he 
 is, I'd rather he wasn't. I can't honestly say 
 that I consider his countenance prepossessing, 
 to say the least." 
 
 Bryan turned and glanced out of the window. 
 " No, Ted, you can't have him he's mine. 
 That's Trudo. I'm afraid he is rather a hard 
 customer; but that only means that he needs 
 help all the more." 
 
 He went to the door, and called to the boy. 
 " Want to look around in here, Tony? You can 
 if you like." He did not wait for any response, 
 but went back to his work. Teddy sauntered 
 across to the other room, but though he picked 
 up a tool and seemed to be busy, he placed him- 
 self so that out of the corner of his eye he 
 could see what went on across the hall. 
 
 The boy was a cripple, one of his legs being 
 shorter than the other, and he used a crutch. 
 After a moment of hesitation he sidled warily 
 down the steps, paused for a moment or two 
 in the doorway, and then ventured slowly in 
 and slipped into a chair, his small black eyes 
 darting swift, furtive, suspicious glances in 
 every direction, like some wild animal scenting 
 danger. 
 
 For a while he watched Bryan, who threw him
 
 GREEN TREE HOUSE 95 
 
 a smile or a word now and then, but otherwise 
 left him to himself. By-and-by he asked a 
 question or two about the table Bryan was work- 
 ing on, and then about one of the tools. Then 
 he limped across the hall, and from the door- 
 way investigated the other workroom, but he 
 did not venture in there, and suddenly he was 
 gone. 
 
 Then Teddy sauntered across the hall again, 
 and perched on his friend's workbench. 
 
 " Did I understand you to say that our late 
 caller was likely to be an apprentice of yours?" 
 he began. 
 
 " I hope so," Bryan returned. 
 
 " Then," Teddy resumed lightly, " it might be 
 advisable hereafter to chain your tools to the 
 bench." 
 
 Bryan looked up quickly. " Did you see him 
 take anything ? " 
 
 " Unless my eyes deceived me and I don't 
 think they did you'll find yourself one hammer 
 short." 
 
 " Poor little chap ! " said Bryan sadly. " He'll 
 have a hard fight of it, I'm afraid." 
 
 " Meaning ? " questioned Teddy. 
 
 " Meaning, Teddy, that he's one of those who 
 never had a chance. His father is in prison, 
 his mother most of the time in the workhouse or 
 the penitentiary, and he left to pick up a living 
 any way he can, with the odds against him be- 
 cause he's a cripple and can neither fight nor 
 run. Ted suppose that had been your lot
 
 96 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 what do you think you would be doing to- 
 day?" 
 
 " Picking up hammers or anything else I could 
 lay my hands on," Ted returned promptly. 
 
 Bryan nodded. " That's it, you see. They 
 aren't to blame, most of them these poor little 
 footpads and pickpockets. And think what it 
 means to save even one of them ! " 
 
 " Question Is there anything to build on in 
 a thoroughly bad one like our late visitor ? " Ted 
 enquired gravely. 
 
 " Oh, yes ! " Bryan's answer was quick and 
 earnest. " Don't you see, I know, because I 
 was just as bad as he! Ted," he leaned for- 
 ward, his plain face touched with deep feeling, 
 " Ted, you remember what the Book says 
 ' God created man in His own image '? I've 
 thought a lot about that. It seems to me like 
 this, that every soul He sends into the world is 
 made in His image even the souls of these poor 
 little waifs around us here. Then, as the years 
 pass, sin covers that image deeper and deeper, till 
 as in poor little Tony it seems as if the Image 
 never could have been there at all, but it is 
 it is there and if we can only brush away the 
 accumulations of the years we shall bring it to 
 the light ; and that means a boy saved ! And the 
 Image is in every soul remember that. Isn't 
 such work better than money-making, Teddy ? " 
 
 Ted shrugged his shoulders in silence, but 
 after a moment he returned, " I'll suspend judg- 
 ment until I see what success you have with
 
 GREEN TREE HOUSE 97 
 
 our ught-fingered visitor. He seems a pretty 
 tolerably tough subject. I'll make a bargain 
 with you, Bryan. If you succeed in bringing 
 that Image to light in Tony, I'll swing into 
 line with you in this work of yours. Yes, I'm 
 in earnest; but I'm afraid," he added, with a 
 return to his usual light indifference, " that the 
 result will be that you'll lose Tony and me 
 both." 
 
 " I'm not worrying," Bryan answered with 
 grave earnestness. " The results are not in my 
 hands, you know. I'll try to do my part, and 
 leave the rest " 
 
 He did not finish the sentence, or need to. 
 
 It was the next morning that the two were 
 surprised by the sudden appearance of a woman 
 in the shop; and a second glance assured them 
 both that it was the same one that they had 
 seen in the agent's office. She might have been 
 about fifty perhaps a little older, and was 
 plump and " comfortable-looking," with kind 
 blue eyes, and soft white hair framing her 
 pleasant, motherly face. 
 
 " Good-morning, Mr. Bryan," she said, for 
 all the world as if she had known him all his 
 life. " And where's the other young man ? Oh, 
 here he is," as Teddy came in from the opposite 
 room, " but your name I don't know, sir." 
 
 " Nor I yours, madam," retorted Teddy 
 promptly. " Permit me to introduce myself as 
 Edward Kent Marston Teddy, for short to 
 my friends."
 
 98 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 " Then you'll have to be ' Teddy, for short ' to 
 me, for I intend to be one of your friends as 
 soon as possible. You see," she turned again 
 to Bryan, "I'm your landlady, if you please, 
 and " 
 
 " Your name is Knowles. I remember now," 
 put in Teddy. 
 
 She glanced at him with a good-humoured nod 
 and smile, as she went on, " I'm going to move 
 in upstairs to-morrow, but I took a notion I'd 
 like to see what you had done down here. May 
 I look around ? " 
 
 " Certainly," Bryan assured her, and went on 
 to explain, " this is my workroom, and Mr. 
 Marston has the other front one for the pres- 
 ent I'm going to fix up one of these back 
 rooms for my bedroom, and the kitchen will 
 come in handy. You don't mind, do you ? that 
 we unearthed, or rather unbricked, this old 
 fireplace ? " 
 
 " No, indeed why should I mind ? It was 
 bricked up, was it? I didn't know there was 
 any fireplace here. You see," she explained, 
 " this property has only recently come into my 
 hands. I went over the house but once before 
 I bought it, and this basement was so full of 
 rubbish that I couldn't tell what there was here. 
 It is a noble old fireplace larger than the one I 
 have upstairs. What a delight it will be for 
 winter evenings ! " 
 
 "That's what we think," Bryan told her 
 eagerly. " My boys I'm interested in a boys'
 
 GREEN TREE HOUSE 99 
 
 club they'll love to come here next winter at 
 least I hope they will." 
 
 Mrs. Knowles smiled up at him in quick re- 
 sponse. " Yes," she said, nodding her head 
 briskly, " I'm going to get acquainted with those 
 boys of yours." She laughed out suddenly, a 
 laugh as merry and light-hearted as a girl's. 
 " Did you guess that I was eavesdropping the 
 other day, at the agent's office?" 
 
 " Ah ! " Bryan's face quickened with sudden 
 understanding, " I see. That explains why we 
 were kept waiting there so long. It was so that 
 you could come and question us by proxy, before 
 you took us as tenants." 
 
 "Of course," she laughed, " and you passed 
 your examination all right no conditions." 
 
 " Thank you," returned Bryan. " I'm glad 
 we are to have you for an upstairs neighbour, as 
 well as for a landlady." 
 
 " How do you know you are ? " she flung back 
 at him gaily. " You don't know yet what kind 
 of a neighbour I shall be, or what sort of a 
 family I have." The smile faded and a gentle 
 gravity touched her face with the last words, and 
 after a moment's pause she went on, " I guess 
 we are in something the same sort of work, you 
 and I. From what I have gathered, this work 
 of yours," they were back in the workshop now, 
 " is only a side issue a means to an end. Your 
 real work, I take it, is saving boys street boys ? " 
 
 " That's it," Bryan acknowledged. 
 
 She nodded and went on, " Mine is well,
 
 100 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 I'll tell you; then we'll understand each other 
 once for all. I'm quite alone in the world. My 
 husband and three children have all gone home 
 before me, and while I'm waiting for my sum- 
 mons, I felt as if I'd like to make my life count 
 for something in the world. I've a little prop- 
 erty enough to provide for my few wants as 
 long as I live, so I don't have to work for my 
 living. Last year I was in the settlement over 
 on Green Street. I had charge of the woman's 
 house, but I got an idea that I wanted to help in 
 another way. My notion is, to make a real home 
 not a home with a capital H, you understand 
 but just a pleasant, comfortable home for my- 
 self, and then share it with those who may be 
 sent to me. Come upstairs and I'll show you." 
 
 They followed her to the first floor, and she 
 went on, " This big room will be my sitting- 
 room or living-room, and here's my kitchen. 
 Isn't it a gem of a kitchen?" She pointed to 
 the enamelled walls, with blue Dutch tiling 
 around the porcelain sink, and the conveniences 
 in the way of closets and pantry. Across the 
 wide hall, with its big window and broad stair- 
 way, were two bedrooms and two tiled baths. 
 
 " This is my own home all this floor. The 
 extra bedroom is for my guests my own 
 friends," she explained. " Now I want to show 
 you the second floor." 
 
 Here there were, on each side of the hall, 
 three rooms living-room or kitchen, bedroom 
 and bath. " And these," Mrs. Knowles went on,
 
 GREEN TREE HOUSE 101 
 
 " are for my other friends the kind you are 
 working for, Mr. Bryan, only mine will be 
 mostly women and children instead of boys 
 except your boys," she added with quick after- 
 thought. 
 
 " But I don't quite understand," said Bryan. 
 " Do you intend to rent these rooms, or to bring 
 to them those who cannot pay rent ? " 
 
 " That's as may be," she answered uncon- 
 cernedly. " If rent is paid for them, it won't 
 go into my pocket; it will be just so much more 
 to use for somebody else that may need it. 
 These are my ' prophet's chambers,' you under- 
 stand. I expect occupants will be sent to fill 
 them." 
 
 " Yes," Bryan assented in a low tone, his eyes 
 shining, " they will surely be sent." 
 
 " And the attics ? " questioned Teddy. 
 
 Mrs. Knowles smiled at him. " Run up and 
 see them if you want to. I think I don't want 
 to climb any more stairs just now. I haven't 
 decided yet what I shall do with the attics. But 
 I am glad, Mr. Bryan, that you are going to 
 sleep in the house, just at first especially, while 
 I have nobody with me except Duffer. Duffer 
 is my dog." 
 
 " Yes, I shall get my bedroom ready to-mor- 
 row," Bryan told her, though until that moment 
 he had not planned to do so until later. 
 
 A commotion in the street made him turn 
 quickly to the window; looking down, he saw a 
 throng of hooting, yelling boys, with a fringe of
 
 102 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 girls, cheering on two others who were trying 
 to tie a tin can to the tail of a small dog a 
 task that was somewhat difficult of accomplish- 
 ment because of the extreme activity and ener- 
 getic resistance of the dog, whose shrill, defiant 
 barks now mingled with the yells of the look- 
 ers-on. 
 
 Mrs. Knowles, peering over Bryan's shoulder, 
 suddenly cried out, " My land, I do believe that's 
 my Duffer now. I shut him up, but he must 
 have slipped out somehow and followed me." 
 
 " I'll put a stop to that business ! " Bryan ex- 
 claimed, and went down the stairs so swiftly 
 that in another minute he was in the midst of 
 the noisy group outside. He used no ceremony, 
 flinging the boys aside with no gentle hand, and 
 laying a strong grasp on the collar of the 
 trembling dog. But the boy who was holding 
 the dog did not loosen his grip ; instead, he looked 
 up at the newcomer with an angry snarl as he 
 cried out, " G'wan out o' this, you ! It's none 
 o' your dog ! " 
 
 " An' none o' your business, neither ! " put in 
 the fellow who held the can. As he spoke, he 
 again attempted to tie the string about the dog's 
 tail. 
 
 " Will you quit, or shall I make you ? Be- 
 cause this is going to stop right here, under- 
 stand." Bryan's voice was very quiet almost 
 gentle but the fire in his eyes meant battle, and 
 the boys were quick to recognise it. 
 
 Suddenly half a dozen of them with one ac-
 
 GREEN TREE HOUSE 103 
 
 cord fell upon him from the rear, belabouring 
 him with sturdy fists, hard as stones. But as fie 
 turned to defend himself, a stream of water 
 deluged his assailants, and they hastily scattered. 
 At the same time the boy who was holding the 
 dog gave a violent jerk that almost broke Bryan's 
 grip of the collar almost, but not quite; and 
 the next instant, with his free hand he caught 
 the boy's ear and twisted it till the fellow let go 
 his hold and yelled with pain. 
 
 "Had enough?" Bryan demanded. "Will 
 you leave the dog alone now ? " 
 
 As the boy kicked viciously at Bryan's ankles, 
 a stream from a hosepipe struck him full in the 
 face, and sputtering, gasping, and swearing, he 
 turned and ran, leaving to Bryan the victory 
 and the dog. 
 
 He picked up the wet, trembling little crea- 
 ture and, followed by a storm of hoots, jeers, 
 and taunts from the crowd, carried it into the 
 house, where Mrs. Knowles received it with a 
 mingling of laughter and indignation. 
 
 " Poor little Duffer ! " she cried. " Scared Al- 
 most to death, aren't you ! But it was so funny 
 to see those boys scatter when Mr. Marston 
 turned the hose on them! Wasn't he quick to 
 think of it? But I declare, Mr. Bryan, my heart 
 was in my mouth when I saw those big fellows 
 set on you from behind. One of them had 
 snatched up a broken brick, but he didn't get a 
 chance to hit you with it before the water 
 knocked him out."
 
 104 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 Teddy now appeared, serene and smiling. 
 
 " You came to the rescue in fine style," Bryan 
 told him. " Some of those big fellows were in 
 a pretty ugly mood over having their fun in- 
 terfered with. They were ripe for worse 
 mischief." 
 
 " Yes you'll probably have more trouble with 
 them they'll want to get even. Seems to me," 
 Teddy looked at his friend's coat, " you're rather 
 damp yourself. I'm not an expert in water- 
 firing yet," he added in whimsical apology. 
 " Next time I'll try to let the enemy get all the 
 showers." 
 
 "That's all right. I'm quite willing to take 
 my share," Bryan laughed. 
 
 But Mrs. Knowles was looking anxiously at 
 him. " Oh, I do hope those boys won't set on 
 you again on account of this," she exclaimed. 
 
 " That isn't worth a thought," Bryan assured 
 her lightly, as he pulled the dog's ears, while 
 Duffer twisted his head a dozen ways in a min- 
 ute, trying to lick the fingers of this new friend. 
 
 " He's adopted you, you see," said Mrs. 
 Knowles, " and Duffer is a friend worth hav- 
 ing at least, I think so." 
 
 " I was wondering," observed Teddy, looking 
 at the dog with an air of grave consideration, 
 " what particular breed he is. What should you 
 say now, Mrs. Knowles ? " 
 
 She looked up at him with a twinkle in her 
 blue eyes. " I think he's like that dog the little 
 boy claimed was * pure mongrel ' ; but he's just
 
 GREEN TREE HOUSE 105 
 
 as good and faithful as if he had won a dozen 
 blue ribbons at as many benchshows. He isn't 
 pretty I never claim beauty for him," she softly 
 smoothed the dog's rough dust-coloured coat, 
 " but just look into those honest brown eyes 
 of his, and you'll see that he will be as true as 
 steel to his friends." 
 
 " I'm sure of that," Bryan said. " He might 
 be the twin brother of the only dog I ever owned, 
 and he was as true a friend as any one could 
 want."
 
 VII 
 
 " KNIGHTS " IN THE ROUGH 
 
 TEDDY'S prophecy, regarding trouble from 
 the street boys with whose sport Bryan 
 had interfered, speedily came true. The 
 very next morning the basement windows were 
 found to be streaked and spattered with mud, 
 and the steps liberally garnished with ashes. 
 The following night several garbage cans were 
 emptied down the steps, and a day or two later, 
 when he opened the door in the morning, Bryan 
 found a mangy, dead cat hanging to the knob. 
 
 " How long are you going to put up with this 
 sort of thing?" Teddy enquired, moving hastily 
 aside as Bryan gingerly detached the cat-re- 
 mains from the knob. 
 
 " The boys will get tired of this fun after a 
 while," Bryan returned cheerfully. " Besides," 
 he added, " I'm going to capture the ringleaders 
 soon, I hope." 
 
 " Do you know who the ringleaders are ? " 
 
 " Yes, some of the boys have found that out 
 for me. The one that held Duffer the other 
 day is ' Black Jim,' and the fellow who was trying 
 to tie on the can is known as ' Paddy Mack.' It 
 appears that the two are rivals for leadership of 
 106
 
 " KNIGHTS " IN THE ROUGH 107 
 
 the ' Sabin Street gang,' and they must be pretty 
 equally matched, for they've had innumerable 
 fights at intervals, and neither can whip the other 
 enough to claim a victory. When there's any 
 special mischief on hand they join forces, as 
 they did over Duffer the other day. When they 
 can't find anything or anybody to torment, they 
 set to and pummel each other." 
 
 " And you propose to capture them how ? " 
 
 " That remains to be seen." 
 
 "And if you succeed, what will you do with 
 them?" 
 
 " Tame them. Such fighters ought to make 
 good workers in some line, once they are tamed." 
 
 " Yes," laughed Teddy, " once they are." 
 
 " Oh, they will be. It's only a question of 
 time and patience." 
 
 Teddy shook his head with an incredulous lift 
 of his eyebrows. 
 
 " I shouldn't call it a promising undertaking," 
 he returned, and then he added : " How about 
 Limpy and the hammer? Given him up them, 
 I should say?" 
 
 "Tony Trudo? Not a bit of it. He'll be 
 back he couldn't for the life of him stay away 
 from this shop. You didn't notice his hands, 
 did you? Well, do, the next time you see him. 
 Just watch him handle the tools. He can do 
 better work with a common jack-knife than 
 most of the boys could do with the finest tools 
 and he's wild to be making things, just for 
 the pure love of it. Oh, Tony will come out
 
 108 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 all right. I shouldn't be surprised if he had 
 charge of this shop in a few years." 
 
 Teddy looked into the earnest face of his 
 friend, and suddenly his merry eyes grew very 
 tender. " Bryan, where you get so much hope 
 and courage stumps me," he declared. " I 
 should say that the material you're working with 
 the human material, I mean is a pretty hope- 
 less lot, most of it." 
 
 " Ah," returned Bryan, " that's because you 
 don't know. They can't be any more hopeless 
 than I was once. You see I never forget that." 
 
 " No," Teddy flung out with affectionate im- 
 patience. " I wish sometimes you would forget 
 it. And I don't believe you ever were like some 
 of these boys of yours you can't make me be- 
 lieve it." 
 
 Bryan shook his head in silence, but with a 
 smile that acknowledged his friend's loyalty. 
 
 His own faith in Tony was justified a few 
 days later when Teddy, coming in, found the 
 lame boy watching Bryan doing a piece of care- 
 ful work on an oaken linen chest that Ted had 
 ordered for his cousin. Tony was so absorbed in 
 the work that he did not even glance up when 
 Teddy entered the room, and the young man 
 stood looking on, far more interested in the two 
 eager, intent faces bent over the chest than he 
 was in the work itself. 
 
 Suddenly the boy cried out impatiently, " Say 
 why don't you try it the other way ? Here, gi' 
 me that ! " He snatched the tool roughly from
 
 " KNIGHTS " IN THE ROUGH 109 
 
 Bryan's hand " I'll show ye." Then he bent 
 over the chest, his eyes a-glow, his hands moving 
 swiftly, surely, without an instant's hesitation. 
 " There ! I knew that was the way ! " he ex- 
 ulted presently, throwing down the tool. 
 
 " Good for you, Tony. You'll be a master- 
 workman yet," Bryan told him, and Tony's 
 dark face flushed with pleasure. 
 
 As the boy was about to slip away in his usual 
 silent, furtive fashion, Bryan held out his hand 
 for the crutch Tony had picked up. 
 
 " Let me look at that," he said. 
 
 Tony eyed him suspiciously. " Wat for ? 
 Wat's the matter of it ? " he demanded in his 
 gruffest voice. 
 
 " A great deal is the matter with it. It isn't 
 the right shape, in the first place, and it's too 
 short it makes you lean too much to one side," 
 Bryan answered ; and as he handed it back to the 
 boy, he added carelessly, " You could easily 
 make yourself a better one out of some of this 
 rubbish here if you want to." 
 
 Again Tony's fierce black eyes flamed with 
 quick suspicion. There must be something un- 
 der this offer, he was sure. Something for noth- 
 ing was unheard of in the world he knew, poor 
 lad. 
 
 " Wat yer givin' me ? " he demanded sullenly, 
 yet with a faint touch of hope. Then with sud- 
 den alarm "I ain't a-goin' to be roped in to 
 none o' them schools an' things, an' you needn't 
 think it!"
 
 110 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 " What schools ? I've nothing to do with 
 any schools; and as to the crutch do as you 
 like," returned Bryan unconcernedly. " If you 
 prefer to twist yourself out of shape using that 
 old stick, why do so, of course. It's your own 
 business, not mine." 
 
 He turned his back on the boy, and when he 
 looked around again Tony had slipped away. 
 
 " I didn't see him take anything this time," 
 Teddy remarked. " Pleasing youth, isn't he ? " 
 
 "Poor Tony!" Bryan sighed. "But he'll 
 come back and make that crutch." 
 
 " I reckon he will. You seem to have a mar- 
 vellous drawing power for his sort," Teddy 
 answered. 
 
 The next morning when he reached the shop 
 Teddy was not an early riser, and seldom ap- 
 peared before nine or even ten o'clock he 
 found Bryan at work as usual, but beside his 
 workbench sat two hard-faced boys of fifteen 
 or sixteen, whom he presently surmised to be 
 Black Jim and Paddy Mack. The former evi- 
 dently owed his nickname to his swarthy skin 
 and his black eyes and hair. The fresh-coloured 
 freckled face of the other, his sandy hair, 
 and blue eyes with a humourous twinkle flash- 
 ing out now and again proclaimed his Irish 
 origin. 
 
 Teddy wondered much how the boys came to 
 be there. They were plainly ill at ease, but 
 Bryan apparently paid not the slightest atten- 
 tion to them. There was a touch of relief,
 
 Then the black head and the sandy one together bent 
 over it with eager interest
 
 "KNIGHTS" IN THE ROUGH 111 
 
 however, in his face and voice as his friend 
 entered. 
 
 " Look here, Marston," he called. " Can you 
 remember how to open this puzzle box ? " 
 
 Marston gave him a swift, inquiring glance as 
 he took the carved wooden box that Bryan picked 
 up from the bench and held out to him. He 
 knew perfectly well how to open it by holding 
 it in a certain way when he pressed the in- 
 visible spring; but now he turned it about 1 in 
 his hands as if he were trying to puzzle out the 
 secret, while, out of the corner of his eye, he 
 watched the boys. He guessed that their fingers 
 were itching to get hold of the thing. Finally, 
 with a swift motion, he pressed the spring and 
 the box flew open. " It's easy," he remarked, 
 closing it again, and putting it down on the bench. 
 
 " Thank you," returned Bryan in an absent- 
 minded fashion, his attention apparently ab- 
 sorbed in the work he was doing. He left the 
 box where his friend placed it, while Teddy, 
 picking up a newspaper, seated himself so that 
 he could keep an eye on the boys. Black Jim sat 
 nearest the box. After a little, inch by inch, his 
 fingers began to creep towards it, and at last he 
 had it in his hands. Then the black head and the 
 sandy one together bent over it with eager in- 
 terest. Now and then, as no one seemed to notice 
 them, there was an interchange of whispered 
 words, to which Bryan was conveniently deaf. 
 
 When at last he turned towards the boys, they 
 dropped the box with all haste.
 
 114 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 club, with some from Sabin Street, for an out- 
 ing on the steamers or the recreation wharves, 
 or for a country walk or a trolley ride. Usually 
 Bennie went along too, and not seldom Teddy 
 made one of the company. The boys were as 
 yet a little shy of Teddy, he was so plainly of 
 a different world from theirs. They admired 
 him, liked him in a way, but they never 
 " banked " on his friendship as they did on 
 Bryan's from the very first. 
 
 As for Bennie his violin was an open sesame 
 to boyish hearts. Many and many a rough lad, 
 sauntering past Green Tree House in search of 
 mischief, was caught by the magic notes that 
 floated out from the old basement, and stopped 
 to listen; and many a one was lured in by the 
 irresistible appeal of the music. The first time, 
 perhaps, they staid but a few minutes, hovering 
 about the door, ready to take flight at a mo- 
 ment's notice ; but once in, they were almost sure 
 to return again and again, for no other place 
 in their world offered so many attractions as 
 that shop, and the wide, low, comfortable room 
 behind it. 
 
 Sometimes Mrs. Knowles would beg Bennie 
 to play for her, and after a while it came to be 
 the happy evening custom for him to sit in her 
 big old-fashioned hall with the doors at either 
 end flung wide, that the air might sweep through, 
 and play for an hour in the early evening. Soon 
 the children of the neighbourhood began to 
 gather every night upon the steps to listen, and
 
 "KNIGHTS" IN THE ROUGH 115 
 
 then, as there was not room enough on the steps, 
 they stood on the sidewalk below, or sat on the 
 curbstone. There were men and women too, 
 among the listeners more and more of them as 
 the days went on. 
 
 One summer evening a half-grown girl on 
 the steps pleaded for " something to dance to," 
 and Bennie struck up a tune so lively and so 
 gay that even weary feet could not resist it, 
 and soon a dozen couples were in the mid- 
 dle of the street keeping step to the music, 
 while Mrs. Knowles and Bryan and Teddy 
 looked on and enjoyed it as much as did the 
 dancers. 
 
 After that Bennie usually played dance music 
 for a while, and not only children, or even young 
 men and girls danced to the magic strains, but 
 more than once a father and daughter danced 
 together, and now and then a woman left her 
 babies and her cares for a few minutes, and felt 
 her youth renewed as, once again, her husband's 
 arm was flung about her and they kept step to- 
 gether to the old familiar music. 
 
 And often after they had danced a while, 
 Bennie would play some patriotic air America 
 or Dixie or The Star Spangled Banner and 
 quickly the children's voices would ring out in 
 the familiar words learnt at school, and if the 
 older ones did not know the words, they could 
 at least, many of them, hum the tune, and the 
 chorus would swell and swell, until the street 
 echoed with the stirring notes and at windows
 
 116 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 all up and down the square were interested 
 listeners. 
 
 But best of all they loved those tired, hard- 
 working, poverty-worn men and women, and 
 even the rough children of the streets best of 
 all they loved the sweet, low, tender melodies 
 that Bennie always played last. Quickly they 
 learned to distinguish them, and would beg for 
 their favourites over and over again. And when 
 the hour was ended, they would go quietly away 
 to their homes. The Sabin Street saloons had 
 fewer customers because of Bennie's violin. 
 
 Before the middle of August, Tony Trudo 
 had fallen into the habit of coming often to the 
 shop. He had made himself a fine new crutch 
 of which he was extremely proud, and had given 
 many hours of work just for the pleasure he 
 had in handling the tools and the wood. Teddy, 
 who had ears of the keenest, overheard, some- 
 times, from his room across the hall, the talk 
 that went on when no other boys were there. 
 Sometimes Bryan would tell Tony something 
 that he had read, sometimes it was a bit of 
 natural history, sometimes a story of the good 
 bishop's work among the boys; but there was 
 never any " preaching," and often the two would 
 work together almost in silence. Yet every 
 hour that Tony spent in the shop strengthened 
 Bryan's hold on him. 
 
 " How does that little Dago earn his bread and 
 butter?" Teddy enquired one day, when Bryan 
 was showing him some of the boy's work.
 
 " KNIGHTS " IN THE ROUGH 117 
 
 " Selling papers and doing odd jobs. I'm 
 afraid he is spending too much time here I 
 mean that he isn't earning enough. Did you see 
 how quickly he put that banana out of sight 
 yesterday?" 
 
 Teddy frowned. " You mean that he goes 
 hungry ? " he demanded sharply. 
 
 " Sometimes I shouldn't wonder." 
 
 " Oh, come now, that won't do. We must 
 fill him up next time he comes," Teddy declared. 
 
 Bryan's face brightened. " So we will, Ted. 
 I'll invite him to take supper with me." 
 
 " No, no, I didn't mean that," Teddy remon- 
 strated hastily. " Why, you'd want to put him 
 a-soak a week first." 
 
 " Hardly that long," laughed Bryan, " but I'll 
 ask Mrs. Knowles to loan me one of her bath- 
 rooms for an hour. Tony can't go swimming 
 off the wharves with the other fellows they're 
 too rough for him but I think he'd enjoy a 
 swim in a bath-tub." 
 
 " But she wouldn't want a boy like that in her 
 bathroom," Teddy objected in a tone that made 
 evident his own feeling on the subject. 
 
 "Not?" Bryan's face lighted up. "Why, 
 Ted, don't you understand that that's just what 
 she fitted those rooms up for? I mean for the 
 use of Tony's sort, that never have known the 
 comfort of a good bath before don't you know 
 that?" 
 
 "But not street boys!" Teddy persisted. 
 
 " Boys or girls, what's the difference so far
 
 118 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 as the use of the bathroom is concerned? Ted, 
 you don't know Mrs. Knowles yet. A dirty face 
 isn't going to frighten her, nor a dirty body 
 either." 
 
 " Here comes another of your young hope- 
 fuls," Teddy broke in as a shadow darkened the 
 window. " I guess I've seen enough of them 
 for one day," and with that he was gone. 
 
 Bryan looked around to see, peering in at 
 the door, the Irish face of Paddy Mack, his 
 mouth widened in an impudent grin, his hands 
 stuffed deep in his ragged pockets. 
 
 " 'Mornin'," he volunteered cheerfully. 
 
 " Good-morning. Anything I can do for 
 you ? " Bryan questioned. 
 
 " Er mebbe now ye wouldn't mind lettin' me 
 have a thry at that quare box I seen here t'other 
 day?" There was an air of wheedling assur- 
 ance about the boy as he stepped in without 
 waiting for an invitation. 
 
 Bryan looked at him with an air of con- 
 sideration. " Why yes, I suppose you can see 
 it," he said slowly. He brought out the box. 
 "Handle it carefully," he added. "I don't 
 want it broken." 
 
 Mack nodded. For half an hour he worked 
 over the box; then he held it out to Bryan. 
 " Le' see you do it," he said. 
 
 Bryan gave the box two or three swift turns, 
 then touched the spring and it opened. 
 
 " Gi' me it again," cried the boy, and in a few 
 minutes he announced triumphantly, " I got it ! "
 
 " KNIGHTS " IN THE ROUGH 119 
 
 Then scornfully, " Aw, that ain't nothin'. Take 
 yer ol' box ! " He flung it roughly down on the 
 bench, and was gone. 
 
 Two days later Black Jim walked boldly in, 
 taking care, however, at first, not to let Bryan 
 get between him and the door. But Bryan kept 
 on with his work, only saying in a casual tone, 
 as if the boy had been an every-day visitor, 
 " How are you, Jim? " 
 
 Had he been urged or even invited to stay, 
 Jim would have held back; as it was, after a 
 moment's hesitation, he slouched across the room 
 with an air of dogged determination. 
 
 " I want to see that box what won't open," 
 he announced gruffly. 
 
 " Do you ? " returned Bryan quietly. 
 
 Jim eyed him with dark suspicion. " Didn't 
 I say it? " he growled. 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 Jim dropped into a chair, but he had the effect 
 of being ready to spring up and dart out the 
 door at any moment. He did not go, however, 
 but sat there flashing furtive, searching glances 
 around the room. 
 
 " Where is it that puzzle box ? " he demanded 
 after a while. 
 
 Bryan looked him quietly in the eye. " Jim," 
 he said, " you haven't a very pleasant way of 
 asking a favour. Some day you'll know better. 
 What do you want the box for?" 
 
 " I'm goin' to find out how to get it open. 
 That freckle- faced Paddy he's goin' 'round
 
 120 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 braggin' that he found out the trick of it him- 
 self. Did he?" He flashed the question at 
 Bryan, " Or was he lyin' ? " 
 
 " Yes, he did mostly by himself," Bryan an- 
 swered. 
 
 " Well then, I'm a-goin' to. I ain't a-goin' to 
 have him swellin' 'round, flingin' at me, the " 
 
 " That will do ! " Bryan's stern voice stopped 
 the string of adjectives with which Jim was 
 adorning his rival's name. " None of that talk 
 here. Do you understand?" 
 
 For a moment Jim's black eyes glared defiance, 
 then they wavered and fell. " Well then, gi" 
 me that box," he growled. 
 
 Bryan brought the box from the next room, 
 and Jim set to work with stubborn determination 
 to discover the secret. The minutes slipped 
 away. One hour two, passed, and still the 
 black head bent persistently over the box. 
 
 "Shall I show you the trick, Jim?" Bryan 
 asked then. 
 
 " You bet you won't. Think I'm goin' to have 
 that Irish chucklehead crowin' over me ? " re- 
 turned Jim, sulky but determined. 
 
 Finally a shrill whistle sounded down the 
 street. Jim's head went up snuffing battle. 
 " It's him Paddy," he growled, casting an un- 
 easy glance at the window. 
 
 "You can take the box into the back room 
 there, if you like," Bryan suggested quietly. 
 
 The boy started up instantly, but Bryan de- 
 tained him with a hand on his shoulder. " Jim,
 
 " KNIGHTS " IN THE ROUGH 121 
 
 there are some valuable tools in there. Can I 
 trust you ? " 
 
 " You bet ! " The black eyes met the grey 
 ones now without flinching. 
 
 " All right then go on." 
 
 And Jim vanished just in time to escape the 
 searching glance that Mack sent through the low 
 window as he flattened his nose against the glass. 
 
 Another hour passed and yet one more, be- 
 fore Bryan looked into the back room to see' 
 Jim still fumbling over the box. The face he 
 lifted was baffled and angry, but Bryan read 
 in it something else. He smiled at the boy, and 
 Bryan's smile was good to see. Jim's hard, 
 obstinate face softened under it a trifle; only a 
 trifle, however, and then the scowl between the 
 dark brows deepened. 
 
 " You're not a quitter anyhow, Jim," was all 
 Bryan said as he turned away. 
 
 From the kitchen beyond Jim heard presently 
 the clatter of dishes, and then the cool tinkle of 
 ice against glass. He wiped the perspiration 
 from his forehead with his sleeve, and bent again 
 over the box. Bryan had been half expecting to 
 hear it go crashing against the wall, but it didn't, 
 and when he went again to the door and said 
 quietly : 
 
 " Jim, it's my supper time and I'm hungry. 
 Will you take a bite with me ? " the boy, after a 
 second of half -bewildered wonder, set the box 
 down carefully and slouched into the other room. 
 
 There was a little round table with a clean
 
 122 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 white cloth, set for two. Jim, dropping into the 
 seat Bryan indicated, drew in his breath sharply 
 as he saw the fresh bread and butter, cold meat 
 and iced milk and fruit. No urging was needed. 
 He ate with a hungry avidity, snatching the food 
 with his fingers, and bolting it like a starving 
 dog. Bryan kept his plate supplied, but did not 
 talk much to him. 
 
 " Going to try a while longer at that box ? " he 
 inquired, when Jim at last pushed back his chair. 
 
 The boy nodded silently, and vanished into the 
 other room. Five minutes later he appeared, 
 triumphantly exhibiting the box wide open. 
 
 " I c'n do it every time now," he exulted, his 
 black eyes all a-shine with satisfaction. 
 
 " I knew you'd do it. A fellow can do most 
 things if he tries long enough," Bryan said, but 
 Jim cut him short. 
 
 " Now I'll tell that Paddy " The rest of 
 
 the sentence was lost in the noise of his heavy 
 shoes as he went clattering up the basement steps.
 
 VIII 
 TOMMY O'BRIEN 
 
 MARSTON, you've got to get out of 
 this you can't stand it, you know." 
 It was Bryan who spoke, his eyes 
 anxiously searching his friend's face. Marston, 
 in summer flannels, was leaning back in a big 
 chair beside his work-table. He frowned im- 
 patiently at Bryan's words. 
 
 " Guess I can stand it if you can," he re- 
 torted. " It's only that I'm a bit wilted by this 
 sizzling weather. I'm all right." 
 
 " No, you're not. You're not eating, and I 
 don't believe you're sleeping well are you? 
 Own up now." 
 
 " Who can sleep in a furnace like this in 
 August ? " Teddy responded. " I don't believe 
 anybody in this town slept last night." 
 
 " It sure was a scorcher," Bryan replied. 
 " Something broke down on the steamer, and I 
 didn't get back with the boys till near midnight. 
 The Common was a sight then. In the moon- 
 light it looked fairly black with men and boys 
 sleeping on the benches and grass." 
 
 " I don't wonder poor souls," was Teddy's 
 comment. 
 
 128
 
 124 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 " Look here, Ted I wish you'd take Bennie 
 off somewhere. I don't feel easy about the boy. 
 He's not looking well, and I can't persuade 
 him to go down in the country where Nan 
 and the babies are. I think he'd go with you, 
 though." 
 
 " Take him away yourself he'd follow you to 
 the ends of the earth. Maybe I'd tag along too, 
 if you'd do that." 
 
 " I can't, Ted. I'm really beginning now to 
 get hold of Tony and Jim and some of the others 
 that I've been fishing for, and I can't afford to 
 make a break just now there'd be too much 
 ground lost. And besides, you know I'm 
 strong and well and don't need to go off. But 
 you do, Ted, and you know it, and so does Ben- 
 nie." 
 
 " Oh, well if you can persuade the boy to 
 go, maybe I'll think of it," Teddy yielded, but 
 with manifest reluctance. 
 
 Bryan lost no time. He assured Bennie that 
 Marston must get away from the city. He 
 had always been used to spending the hot season 
 by the sea or in the mountains, but he would go 
 now only on condition that Bennie should go with 
 him. Bennie pleaded to stay and help, but 
 Bryan's stronger will triumphed, and Marston 
 finally carried the boy off for a canoeing trip 
 among the lakes of Maine. 
 
 Bryan missed the two greatly, but he was too 
 busy to be lonely. The old club in charge of 
 Jack Finney made large demands on his evenings
 
 TOMMY O'BRIEN 125 
 
 and Sundays, and his days at the shop were full 
 of work and of interest. A dozen boys now came 
 for regular work, and many others came more or 
 less frequently. Mack and Jim had begun to 
 frequent the shop, though still in the spirit of 
 rivalry. Neither had any marked ability, but 
 they had the usual boyish liking for using tools 
 and making things, and though neither would 
 acknowledge it even to himself they were both 
 growing to like Bryan. Besides Jim remem- 
 bered that supper he had shared. He had never 
 boasted of that to Mack for fear that the latter 
 might be equally favoured. Also Jim had not 
 forgotten what Bryan had said about the " good 
 times " for boys that were to come. He was not 
 yet sure, but he was beginning to think that he 
 might, just possibly, like to have a share in those 
 good times. Tony Trudo's progress had sur- 
 passed Bryan's largest expectations. Already 
 the boy was doing good work, and Bryan was 
 planning to put him in charge of the next begin- 
 ners. The trouble was in the boy's selfishness 
 and his violent temper. All his life he had been 
 hectored and tormented. Among his rough com- 
 rades of the street, his lameness had aroused 
 neither pity nor sympathy only derision and 
 cruelty. He hated his strong, healthy tormentors 
 hated them one and all with a vindictive bitter- 
 ness which continually cropped out in his speech, 
 as he grew more at ease with Bryan. 
 
 Bryan pondered long over Tony, and one night 
 he told Mrs. Knowles about him.
 
 126 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 " There's only one way," she said. " You've 
 got to interest him somehow in somebody else." 
 
 " Yes," Bryan agreed thoughtfully, as Duffer 
 scrambled up and stretched himself over his 
 knees, " that's what I've been thinking. Who 
 was it that said ' No one can do a noble deed 
 without ennobling himself at the same time ' ? 
 But the trouble is to get Tony to do anything of 
 the sort. He seems to be as absolutely selfish as 
 any boy I ever came across. Poor chap I sup- 
 pose nobody has ever been kind and unselfish to 
 him." 
 
 " Doesn't he show any appreciation of what 
 you've done for him, Theo?" Mrs. Knowles 
 had long since dropped the formal mister. 
 
 "No, and in fact I don't feel that I have 
 done much for him. If he stays on, he'll soon 
 pay his way in the shop, you know." 
 
 " I was wondering if you couldn't interest him 
 in that young man you were telling me about 
 What is his name now? the one at the Incu- 
 rables." 
 
 " Oh, you mean Tommy." Bryan's face 
 lighted up. " I wonder if I could. Tommy has 
 had a harder time than Tony far. Thank you 
 for the suggestion. I'll think it over, Mrs. 
 Knowles." 
 
 So it came about that one day Bryan asked 
 Tony to go with him to the hospital. He ex- 
 plained that he had there a friend for whom he 
 wanted a bookrack made a frame to hold a 
 book so that the reader could read easily lying
 
 TOMMY O'BRIEN 127 
 
 down. Tony at first refused point-blank to go; 
 but when he learned that Bryan's friend was a 
 cripple who could not walk even with a crutch, 
 he began to manifest a tepid interest, and finally 
 consented to see him. Bryan had little hope of 
 accomplishing anything by the visit, but felt that 
 it was worth a trial. 
 
 At the door of the hospital, however, Tony 
 balked. " I ain't a-goin' in that place," he de- 
 clared, glowering suspiciously at the big building. 
 
 " Just as you like, Tony," Bryan returned. 
 " If you aren't willing to help me out on that 
 bookrack, go along back. I'll find some other 
 boy to do it somebody that I can trust." 
 
 Without another word, or even a backward 
 glance, he passed in, and before the great door 
 swung behind him Tony had slipped through 
 after him. 
 
 Tommy's welcome was worth seeing. His thin 
 white face, lined with years of suffering, flashed 
 a very radiance of delight as he caught sight of 
 Bryan. 
 
 " Oh, but it's fine to see you. Sit-down, sit 
 down ! " he cried out, pointing to the chair close 
 beside his cot, and then his long, bony fingers 
 closed over Bryan's in a warm grip that said 
 even more than his words. So utterly absorbed 
 he was in his friend that he did not notice his 
 companion, and Tony, sliding into another chair, 
 at the foot of the bed, looked and listened in 
 silence looked at the small figure outlined under 
 the coverings a figure no larger than that of a
 
 128 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 boy of twelve looked at the worn face where 
 even his untrained, unsympathetic eyes could 
 read the story of a lifetime of suffering at the 
 eyes, weary, yet full of a great peace, and just 
 now shining with infinite content and happiness. 
 He listened to Tommy's eager questions about 
 this boy and that at the club he seemed to be 
 interested in everything that concerned them all, 
 and then suddenly Tony sat bolt upright, his eyes 
 widening in amazement, for what was this that 
 Tommy was saying? 
 
 " Now tell me about that Tony Trudo. I like 
 Tony best of all the Sabin Street boys, 'cause you 
 know, he's a little bit like me only not anything 
 like so bad. I know how he feels, though. He 
 jest hates bein' lame, an' havin' to limp an' creep 
 when the other fellows run an' jump. He's 
 made himself a fine new crutch you 'member 
 you told me that last time you was here an' now 
 he's learnin' to make furniture." Tommy's voice 
 changed : " He won't have to stay in bed all his 
 life as I have, Tony won't lucky Tony. Say, 
 Theo, d'ye think he'd come an' see me some day 
 if you should ask him to? I'd like to see him. 
 I'd like to see all the boys, but I know they don't 
 want to come here and see me. / ain't no good 
 to anybody, ye know." 
 
 "Yes, you are, Tommy. You're one of my 
 best friends true as steel you are," was Bryan's 
 quick reply. 
 
 Tommy's face brightened his eyes fairly 
 shone. " Am I that, truly a real friend that
 
 TOMMY O'BRIEN 129 
 
 you care about a little bit, you know ? " he asked 
 with a longing sigh. 
 
 "Yes, indeed, you are that," Bryan assured 
 him earnestly, " and, Tommy, you know I've told 
 you and read you a great many stories about 
 brave men heroes. You remember some of 
 them, don't you ? " 
 
 " Yes," said the child-man slowly, " I remember 
 some of 'em, Theo. I think of 'em nights, 
 don't you know, when I ache so I can't sleep, an' 
 I know there's nobody to care whether I ache or 
 not. I think of the hero-men then, and oh, 
 Theo, I do so wish I could have been one ! " A 
 great sadness dimmed the shine in his eyes now. 
 
 Bryan's eyes filled as he leaned over the poor 
 fellow, speaking earnestly. " Tommy, let me tell 
 you something. You are a hero truly you are. 
 You bear your aches and pains and your lonely 
 shut-in life as bravely as any soldier ever met 
 death in battle. You never whine or complain, 
 and you never envy those who have so much 
 more than you have. That is being a real hero, 
 Tommy." 
 
 The pale blue eyes looking earnestly into his 
 face widened in joyful wonder as Bryan spoke. 
 Then Tommy said in a whisper, " Me little 
 crooked Tommy O'Brien, a hero! Theo, I I 
 guess there's some mistake about it. You're 
 jest sayin' it to to please me, ain't you?" he 
 ended wistfully. 
 
 " Not a bit of it it's true, Tommy. Get all 
 the comfort out of it you can," returned Bryan.
 
 130 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 " And now " he feared that Tommy was getting 
 too much excited, and went on quietly " I 
 brought a new friend to visit you to-day. You 
 didn't see him come in behind me, did you ? but 
 he's been here all the time. Guess now, Tommy, 
 who this is." 
 
 Tommy stared wonderingly as Bryan pointed 
 to Tony, half hidden at the foot of the cot. He 
 lifted himself on his elbow and looked doubtfully 
 at the boy until he caught sight of the crutch. 
 Then he gave a weak, boyish shout. 
 
 " Oh, it's Tony it's Tony Trudo, ain't it, 
 Theo ? Say, is it Tony ? " Then as Theo nodded, 
 Tommy called out, " Come up here, Tony, an' 
 shake hands. I like you, you know, already. 
 Twas mighty good of you to come an' see me, 
 jest mighty good ! " 
 
 Speechless and embarrassed for the first time 
 in his life, Tony limped forward and let his 
 brown hand lie in Tommy's scrawny fingers. 
 Something was happening to Tony. What it 
 was he could not imagine, but somewhere inside 
 of him he was conscious of a strange warm 
 feeling that he had never had before. How 
 could he know that it was the first stirring of the 
 soul that had never before had a chance to grow ? 
 Not one word did Tony say, but he looked at 
 Tommy and Tommy looked at him, and something 
 passed from one to the other something that 
 made them friends. 
 
 "Will you come again, Tony, some time?" 
 Tommy urged, as Bryan rose.
 
 TOMMY O'BRIEN 131 
 
 " You bet," muttered Tony. The words might 
 have been better chosen, but Tommy did not 
 mind the words he understood. 
 
 And Bryan, reading both faces, went home 
 with a glad heart. Tony had taken the second 
 step. Soon he would surely do the good deed 
 that would ennoble him, and by-and-by, in 
 Tony's soul, the great Image would begin to 
 shine forth. So Bryan believed. 
 
 In September, Marston and Bennie Hoyt came 
 back, brown and vigorous after their weeks of 
 outdoor living. Bennie was warmly enthusi- 
 astic over the trip, and he and Ted were plainly 
 very good friends. 
 
 The day after their return a chill northeast 
 storm swept the city, and in the evening Bryan 
 lighted a fire in the old fireplace, and the three 
 friends gathered about it and talked far into the 
 night. At first Bryan was the listener, full of 
 interest in all that the others had seen and done ; 
 but later Teddy began to ask questions. 
 
 " You sure were an aggravating correspondent, 
 Bryan," he grumbled, " writing such bits of let- 
 ters, and never telling us half the things we 
 wanted to know. How about Tony? Has he 
 brought back that hammer yet ? " 
 
 " Not yet, but I have faith that he will soon. 
 Tony is growing, Ted. I have great hopes of 
 him." He told of the boy's first visit to Tommy 
 O'Brien. " Now the two are great friends," he 
 went on, "and I don't know which enjoys the 
 friendship most. So far as I can find out, Tony
 
 132 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 never before had a friend think of it ! He has 
 made Tommy a beautiful bookrack that is such 
 a comfort to him. I suppose that is the first 
 thing Tony ever did for any one else, of his own 
 accord." 
 
 " Fine ! " commented Ted. " And the black- 
 browed Jim ? " 
 
 " Well " Bryan was not so enthusiastic 
 
 about Jim. " He is getting on a bit," he de- 
 clared, " he and Mack, both. Of course they 
 don't take to the work at the shop as Tony does 
 it isn't in them to but they like working with 
 the tools, and I've kept them at it by setting one 
 against the other. Mack can do better work 
 than Jim, but he's lazy; while Jim hasn't a lazy 
 bone in his body. So I manage to keep one a bit 
 ahead of the other most of the time, and that 
 spurs them on. I haven't yet found the soft spot 
 in the heart of either of them, but I shall in time. 
 I've ten other boys coming here now regularly 
 and making fairly good progress Sabin Street 
 boys, I mean, and a dozen from the old club have 
 started in this month. Some of them want to 
 do the ironwork, Ted. Do you want to teach 
 them, or are you ready now to go back to New 
 York and business ? " 
 
 Teddy looked thoughtfully into the glowing fire 
 for a long moment before he answered slowly: 
 " I'm going to stay on here a while longer till 
 the end of the year anyhow, Bryan. After that 
 well, we'll see." 
 
 " The longer you stay the better I shall like it,
 
 TOMMY O'BRIEN 133 
 
 you know that," Bryan returned. "Ted, those 
 boys at the club are going ahead fast. What do 
 you think they did last month ? " 
 
 " What ? " questioned Marston and Bennie to- 
 gether. 
 
 " Closed up Quinn's saloon. It was their own 
 notion, too. It was a bad place, that saloon. 
 Quinn wasn't content to get in the men, he was 
 forever after the boys, but he overreached him- 
 self, at last. He coaxed in Johnny Dobbs. I 
 think you don't know Johnny, Ted, but Bennie 
 and I do. He's a poor little hollow-chested, 
 under-sized chap ; looks as if he'd never had half 
 enough to eat. He isn't real bright, and he's 
 weak in every way " 
 
 " Theo's been boosting him up for years, you 
 know," Bennie put in, " but he doesn't tell you 
 that." 
 
 " Well," Bryan went on, " he's a weak brother 
 that's all there is about it. The boys used to 
 torment the life almost out of him, and get him 
 drunk and into every kind of mischief for 
 sport! But they're getting a different idea of 
 sport now, some of the older ones and they're 
 beginning to feel that they have some responsi- 
 bility in regard to Johnny. And so when Quinn 
 toled him into his spiderweb and filled him up 
 with vile whiskey, our boys were up in arms 
 about it. They came to me, a dozen or so of 
 them, to ask how they could clear Quinn out of 
 the neighbourhood ; and I told them to get all the 
 men in the neighbourhood to back them up.
 
 134 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 Quinn isn't popular over there, and there are 
 plenty of other saloons. Well, those boys set 
 to work, and at first their fathers and the other 
 men just laughed at them. As it happened, that 
 was the best thing they could have done ; it made 
 the boys mad, and put them on their mettle. 
 They wouldn't give the thing up. They kept 
 talking and urging till the men, seeing what it 
 meant to the boys, and maybe tired of all the talk 
 about it, began to give in ; and do you know " 
 Bryan's eyes were alight with pride in his boys 
 " they finally got so many of the men pledged to 
 boycott Quinn, that he actually had to close up 
 and clear out." 
 
 " Good for the boys ! " cried Teddy. 
 
 " That's exactly it it is good for the boys, the 
 boys who did it, I mean not only for weaklings 
 like poor Johnny. But those boys learned a 
 mighty important lesson, Ted. They learned 
 what they can do when they work together in 
 dead earnest. Oh, that will mean a lot to those 
 fellows. It will go a long way towards making 
 them public-spirited citizens a few years from 
 this time." 
 
 " It will be some time yet, I'm afraid, before 
 you make ' public-spirited citizens ' out of this 
 Sabin Street gang," was Teddy's faithless 
 response. " You may get Black Jim and Mack 
 to making chairs and tables, possibly, but you 
 won't get them to building character to any great 
 extent not yet awhile, my friend." 
 
 " Don't you be too sure of that," Bryan an-
 
 TOMMY O'BRIEN 135 
 
 swered quickly. " The Image is there, Ted I 
 won't let myself forget that." To which Marston 
 answered only by a shake of the head. 
 
 " And Mother Knowles, what has she been 
 doing?" he questioned. 
 
 " In the first place she has filled her empty 
 rooms. She has two sisters shop-girls on one 
 side, and an old woman and a child on the other. 
 And she gives a tea once a week." 
 
 " A tea! " Marston's face expressed astonish- 
 ment not unmixed with dismay as a vision of the 
 afternoon teas of his world flashed before his 
 mind. 
 
 " Oh, not your kind," Bryan reassured him. 
 " She limits her invitations to six women, but 
 each is privileged to bring one friend and one 
 baby, and she gives them sandwiches, cakes, and 
 tea." 
 
 " She'd better teach them to cook. It might 
 help to keep their men out of the saloons." 
 
 " She is doing just that, but not in classes. 
 She has a cooking-class for the girls, but she 
 manages the mothers differently. She invites 
 one of her Sabin Street neighbours each week to 
 spend a night with her, coming to supper and 
 staying to breakfast. You can imagine what a 
 revelation and object lesson it is to those poor 
 creatures." 
 
 " I should say so," was Marston's thoughtful 
 response. 
 
 Bryan went on. "If she stays here five years 
 you won't know the place. And only think
 
 136 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 what those five years will mean to the girls 
 growing up here ! " 
 
 " And what those same five years will mean 
 to the boys you are getting hold of," Marston 
 added. " It makes a fellow realise what he 
 might do with his life," he added gravely. 
 
 " Yes," assented Bryan, " five years will make 
 men of Jim and Mack and some of the others. 
 Ted " he turned a glowing face to his friend 
 " isn't it a splendid thing to help even a little in 
 making men ? " 
 
 In the firelight, Bennie's delicate face reflected 
 the glow on Bryan's as, in the silence of his own 
 soul, he rededicated his life to this same high 
 service. But there was other work for him first, 
 and soon he was back at college doing his best to 
 make the record that Nan and Bryan expected 
 him to make.
 
 IX 
 
 MRS. KNOWLES' GUESTS 
 
 BY this time Green Tree House had become 
 the centre of interest for Sabin Street; 
 nor was the interest confined to that 
 street. It radiated in many directions as the 
 boys and girls carried abroad the story of their 
 doings of their work and play, and the delight- 
 ful plans for things yet to be. As to Mrs. 
 Knowles she had taken kindly to the name the 
 children gave her, and loved best to be called 
 " Mother " Knowles she was now one of the 
 busiest and happiest women in all that city. 
 There were no lonely days for her, and her life 
 was rich in human interest and love. 
 
 One morning she was putting in water some 
 roses that Marston had brought her, when she 
 heard a faint rapping on her outer door. When 
 she opened it, a girl of ten or eleven looked up at 
 her with round, half-frightened eyes. 
 
 " Why, Annie, was it you knocking ? " she 
 said. " Why didn't you ring the bell ? " 
 
 " I dassn't," Annie murmured, her head droop- 
 ing shyly. 
 
 Shyness was by no means a characteristic of 
 most of the Sabin Street children, and Mrs. 
 137
 
 138 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 Knowles found it rather refreshing. She took 
 the child's little limp hand, drew her in, and seat- 
 ing her by the window, brought out some cookies. 
 
 " There, dear, eat just as many as you like," 
 she said. 
 
 At first Annie dumbly shook her head, winding 
 her skinny little legs around the legs of her chair 
 in painful embarrassment ; but as Mrs. Knowles, 
 leaving her alone, went on with some sewing she 
 had taken up, the spicy cakes proved too tempt- 
 ing, and after a little, one disappeared and then 
 another; but though she eyed the others long- 
 ingly, Annie left them untouched. 
 
 Finally Mrs. Knowles put down her work and 
 took the child on her lap. 
 
 " Now, dear," she coaxed, " tell me what you 
 came for. Was it just to see me ? " 
 
 Annie's straw-coloured head was shaken in 
 solemn silence. 
 
 " Now look at Duffer he's jealous because 
 I'm holding you," Mrs. Knowles laughed, as Duf- 
 fer put his paws on her knee and sniffed dis- 
 dainfully and disapprovingly at the thin little 
 legs, in rusty black stockings adorned with 
 several holes. 
 
 Annie smiled at Duffer, and patted his rough 
 head gingerly with one finger, at which he sud- 
 denly relented, and gave the finger one swift 
 touch with his little pink tongue, in token of 
 friendliness. 
 
 " What did you come for, dear ? " Mrs. 
 Knowles asked again.
 
 MRS. KNOWLES' GUESTS 139 
 
 Then Annie took her courage in both hands 
 and spoke almost in a whisper, her eyes anxiously 
 searching the motherly face looking down at 
 her. 
 
 " I came for mother." 
 
 Mrs. Knowles looked at her uncomprehending. 
 " Do you mean that you thought your mother was 
 here?" 
 
 Again the pale yellow head was shaken vio- 
 lently, and the child tried to explain. " You had 
 Maggie Hagan's mother here all night. I want 
 my mother to come too. My mother don't 
 ever go anywhere and and father knocked her 
 down last night, an' he says he's goin' to again, 
 when he comes back. Can't she come here, to- 
 night ? " The blue eyes were swimming in tears, 
 but now Annie had forgotten to be shy in her 
 eagerness to secure this great privilege for her 
 mother. 
 
 " Yes, child, yes, surely she can come," was 
 the instant response. " Did she send you to ask 
 if she could?" 
 
 " No no! She was asleep. She didn't know 
 I came," the child cried quickly. 
 
 " Maybe then she won't want to come to- 
 night," Mrs. Knowles suggested. 
 
 " I guess she will if if you tell her to bring 
 me." In the sober, anxious little face, full of 
 earnest pleading, there was plainly no selfish pur- 
 pose. It was " mother " Annie was thinking of 
 not herself. 
 
 " Have you any brothers or sisters, Annie ? "
 
 140 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 Another silent shake of the head answered 
 that. 
 
 " Does your father work? " 
 
 " Sometimes. Sometimes mother does. She 
 washes an' scrubs." 
 
 " Well, you go home, Annie, and tell your 
 mother that I want her to come to supper with" 
 me and to stay all night, same as Maggie's mother 
 did." 
 
 The child's face brightened into radiant joy. 
 She slipped instantly to the floor, fairly trembling 
 with eagerness to be gone with her longed-for in- 
 vitation. 
 
 "Tell her to come before six o'clock if she 
 can," Mrs. Knowles called after the little figure 
 already halfway through the hall. 
 
 " I wonder now if she will come ; maybe that 
 brute who knocked her down won't let her," the 
 good woman mused, as she looked through her 
 stock of " lending " garments for fresh night- 
 clothes. She did not much expect that the 
 woman would come certainly not, if she were 
 shy and timid like her child, but at half-past five 
 the two appeared. Annie wore the same old 
 dress she had worn in the morning, but it had 
 been washed after a fashion, and ironed, and a 
 big rent in the skirt had been gobbled up with a 
 few hasty, unskilful stitches. Annie was like 
 another child. In her intense concern for her 
 mother, she quite forgot to be shy. 
 
 The mother, a little wisp of a woman, with 
 pale blue eyes, and pale yellowish hair, and col-
 
 MRS. KNOWLES' GUESTS 141 
 
 ourless skin, had a general washed-out effect. A 
 dark bruise on one side of her face proved the 
 truth of Annie's statement as to her father. 
 
 " She said the child said you said for us to 
 
 come " The woman stumbled over the 
 
 words as she hesitated on the doorstep, but Mrs. 
 Knowles met her with warm cordiality. 
 
 " Come right in, come right in," she said, and 
 quickly had her seated in a comfortable rocking- 
 chair, with her feet, in their run-over shoes, rest- 
 ing on a footstool. 
 
 " Supper's all ready, except the tea. I'll 
 make that as soon as the kettle boils," Mrs. 
 Knowles went on, turning towards the kitchen. 
 "You just sit there and rest." 
 
 " It's so good to sit an' rest in this nice chair," 
 the woman sighed as she leaned her head against 
 the high back. 
 
 Presently Mrs. Knowles brought in the tea and 
 the three gathered about the table which was 
 as immaculately fresh and dainty in its appoint- 
 ments as it would have been for any other guests. 
 The child's eyes widened with wonder and delight 
 as she looked across it. 
 
 " Ain't the flowers pretty, mother ? " she 
 whispered under her breath. 
 
 The mother nodded ; her pleasure was alloyed 
 with fear lest she or the child get a spot on the 
 beautiful white cloth ; but as her hostess supplied 
 her with the scallopped oysters and fresh rolls, 
 sliced peaches and tea, talking the while in her 
 easy comfortable fashion, Mrs. Neal gradually
 
 142 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 lost her painful self-consciousness, and heartily 
 enjoyed the good things provided for her. As 
 for Annie, half the time she forgot to eat, as with 
 happy eyes she watched her mother. 
 
 After supper, Annie silently followed Mrs. 
 Knowles from kitchen to pantry, her wonder 
 growing at all the marvellous things she saw. 
 
 " The kitchen is nicer'n this room. It's all blue 
 an' white," she whispered in her mother's ear, 
 " an' so clean ! I never see anything so clean." 
 
 " Please'm, couldn't I do up the dishes for you ? 
 I'd like to," Mrs. Neal said, appearing at the 
 kitchen door, and gazing around as admiringly as 
 the child had done. 
 
 Mrs. Knowles smiled a welcome as she turned 
 the hot water into the dishpan. " I'll wash and 
 you can wipe then," she said easily. 
 
 " Ain't it pretty, mother ? " Annie whispered 
 again. 
 
 " I didn't s'pose there was any such kitchen 
 as this an' on Sabin Street, too," Mrs. Neal 
 said, looking about at the white enamelled walls, 
 the blue tiling around the porcelain sink, the gas 
 range with its shining handles, and the pretty 
 corner closets full of dishes and cooking utensils. 
 " It'd be easy to keep this clean," she added, 
 " with all the soap an' water you want. I have to 
 bring all my water up three pairs of stairs, an' 
 there ain't any sink in my kitchen." 
 
 " I'm afraid I shouldn't use as much as I ought 
 if I had to do that," Mrs. Knowles returned, as 
 she poured the hot rinsing water over the china
 
 MRS. KNOWLES' GUESTS 143 
 
 she had washed. "You'll find clean wiping- 
 towels in that top drawer," she added. 
 
 Mrs. Neal opened the drawer indicated, then 
 turned doubtfully to ask, " You don't mean these 
 nice white ones ? " 
 
 "Why, yes," Mrs. Knowles laughed, "take 
 two of them." 
 
 With an awe-struck expression the woman un- 
 folded one of the towels and began to wipe the 
 hot cups. " A towel a real nice linen towel 
 jest to wipe the dishes with ! " she was saying to 
 herself. Any old rag answered the purpose in 
 her kitchen. 
 
 Annie hovered delightedly about, watching 
 " mother " wipe the dishes with that beautiful 
 white cloth. She was quite sure that Maggie 
 Hagan's mother had not been allowed to wipe 
 any of Mrs. Knowles' pretty dishes. Mrs. Neal 
 wiped slowly and very carefully. It was so dif- 
 ferent, this, from the dish-washing and wiping 
 that she was used to. This was the embroidery 
 of kitchen service it was play, not work. 
 
 When the dishes were all put away and the 
 white sink as clean as the dishes, Mrs. Neal 
 actually sighed, wishing there were more to do; 
 besides, it must be confessed that she dreaded a 
 little just a little the evening to follow. It 
 was all so new and strange to her she was so 
 fearful that she should not " measure up " to the 
 expectations of her hostess. 
 
 But she need not have had any such fears. 
 There was a fireplace in the living-room, and
 
 144 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 Mrs. Knowles kindled a fire there or rather she 
 made Annie proud and happy by letting her touch 
 a match to the kindlings, and then she brought 
 out some picture books and a big doll and its 
 cradle. 
 
 " There, little girlie, you can look at the books 
 if you want to, or you can undress Polly Ann, 
 and put on her nightie and rock her to sleep," she 
 said, and Annie, utterly ignoring the pictures, 
 was instantly absorbed in Polly Ann and her 
 fascinating clothes that had real buttons and but- 
 ton-holes, and didn't have to be pinned or tied on, 
 as Annie's usually were. 
 
 Mrs. Knowles was making a braided rug out of 
 outing flannel in three shades of blue. 
 
 " If you want to help a little," she told her 
 guest, " you can tear that piece of flannel into 
 strips. I've started the strips the right width at 
 that end; but, if you are tired, you just sit still 
 and rest. You look as if you needed a good long 
 rest." 
 
 The tears welled up suddenly into the faded 
 blue eyes at the unexpected words of sympathy, 
 but the woman picked up the cloth and scissors. 
 
 " It's a rest to do anything in a place like this," 
 she said. " I guess heaven ain't any nicer." 
 
 " You poor soul ! " Mrs. Knowles reached 
 over and laid her plump hand over one of the 
 rough red ones with its broken nails. " I guess 
 life has been pretty hard for you; but you're 
 young still, and we'll hope there are good days 
 yet to come for you, and many of them."
 
 MRS. KNOWLES' GUESTS 145 
 
 The woman, her lips quivering, shook her head 
 in silence ; and seeing the child anxiously watch- 
 ing her mother's face, Mrs. Knowles changed the 
 subject and began telling some funny stories that 
 made Annie laugh and the mother's hopeless 
 face brighten a little. 
 
 But to the guests, even the supper and the won- 
 derful blue and white kitchen, and the open fire, 
 paled before the delightful experience that fol- 
 lowed when, at bedtime, Mrs. Knowles took 
 them into such a bedroom as they had never seen 
 or imagined before. There was a pale gold 
 satin-striped paper on the walls, and a hard-wood 
 floor, but all the rest was white the bedstead of 
 white enamel, with bedding all of white, and as 
 fresh as if that moment put on. Even the chairs 
 and bureau were finished in white enamel, and 
 the linen cover on the bureau-top was freshly 
 laundered. A large thick rug in soft-wood tints 
 vith touches of pink and green, covering the 
 centre of the room, gave the warm homelike 
 touch needed where all else was colourless, ex- 
 cept a few pink blossoms in a glass vase on the 
 bureau, reflected from the mirror behind them. 
 
 Mrs. Neal, following her hostess into this room, 
 stopped short just inside the door, her face full 
 of dismay and distress. 
 
 " Oh, ma'am, I can't ever sleep here I can't 
 really ! " she cried out. 
 
 " But why ? It is warm and comfortable the 
 bed is very comfortable," Mrs. Knowles urged, 
 her own face reflecting the trouble in her guest's.
 
 146 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 " Oh, yes, it's a beautiful bed. It's all heavenly 
 
 pretty but, ma'am " she twisted her thin 
 
 fingers nervously together, almost crying as she 
 spoke, " it's too nice for folks like us. We we 
 ain't nice and and clean enough to get into a 
 bed like that." Her eyes turned from the white 
 bed to the dingy brown skirt she wore and 
 Annie's half-washed print dress with the edge of 
 an unwashed petticoat hanging below it at the 
 back. 
 
 " Oh, is that all ? Look here ! " Mrs. Knowles 
 flung open a door, revealing a bathroom tiled in 
 blue and white, with a porcelain tub, and beside 
 it big generous towels and wash-cloths and a 
 plentiful supply of soap. 
 
 " There is hot water as well as cold," she said, 
 " and you and Annie can both have a warm bath 
 before you go to bed ; then you will feel as fresh 
 and clean as the bed, and you can't think how it 
 will rest you and make you sleep. And here," she 
 opened a drawer in the bureau, " I keep night- 
 dresses here for the friends who spend the night 
 with me. There's a little one for Annie. Do 
 you have to get home early in the morning for 
 your husband's breakfast? " 
 
 The woman shook her head. " He's gone off 
 to look for a job he won't be home to-morrow," 
 she answered in a low tone, turning her face 
 quickly aside to hide the bruise of which she was 
 reminded. 
 
 " Then you needn't get up until you are rested. 
 I have my breakfast at half-past seven, and you
 
 MRS. KNOWLES' GUESTS 147 
 
 can have yours whenever you please. Now good- 
 night, and a good rest to you both." 
 
 " And the same to you, ma'am, a thousand 
 times," the woman answered fervently. 
 
 As the door closed behind Mrs. Knowles, An- 
 nie caught one of her mother's hands and hugged 
 it ecstatically. " Oh, mummy ! " she cried, " did 
 you ever see such a nice place or such a good 
 lady?" 
 
 " I guess she's about the best God ever made," 
 the mother answered with a touch of reverence 
 in her voice. There had been deaconesses and 
 " friendly visitors " in her poor home more than 
 once, and they had meant kindly she was sure, 
 but most of them had seemed to stand above her 
 and reach down, pulling their skirts carefully 
 around them lest they be soiled, but this woman 
 " She treats us like we was her own folks 
 God in heaven, bless her ! " she muttered in a 
 voice choked with sobs. 
 
 " But, mummy, if you like it, what makes you 
 cry ? " the child demanded uneasily ; and for her 
 sake the mother answered brightly. 
 
 Then such a glorious time as they had in that 
 bathroom. First the child ; and when she was as 
 clean as soap and water could make her, she was 
 robed in a pretty little night-dress with lace on 
 neck and sleeves, and tucked up in bed, where she 
 lay, wide-eyed and blissfully happy fingering 
 the lace on her sleeves to be sure it was really 
 there till she fell asleep. It was long before her 
 mother joined her. Such an opportunity was far
 
 148 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 too good to be lost, so, before she enjoyed the 
 luxury of a bath in that beautiful tub, she did 
 what she could to bring the child at least into 
 harmony with her surroundings, by washing out 
 the little undergarments she had taken off, and 
 hanging them around the edge of the tub to dry. 
 
 " It won't hurt the tub none, an' they'll be 
 dry come morninV she said to herself, " an' if 
 they be a bit damp, anyway they'll be cleaner'n 
 ever they were yet with all this nice water an' 
 soap to do 'em with." 
 
 Then at last, refreshed by her warm bath, and 
 luxuriating in the delicious feeling of the clean 
 night-dress faintly suggesting some delicate 
 fragrance, she slipped away into the land of 
 dreams, where dirt, and pinching poverty, and 
 brutal husbands were unknown. 
 
 When she awoke the child was gone, and a 
 little clock on the bureau told her that it was 
 seven o'clock. She dressed hurriedly, and went 
 across to the living-room, where she heard Annie 
 chattering to Mrs. Knowles, who called out a 
 cheery good-morning as she appeared. 
 
 "Annie is helping me get breakfast," Mrs. 
 Knowles said. " It is almost ready now." 
 
 " I boiled the eggs all my own self, mummy 
 didn't I?" the child appealed to Mrs. Knowles, 
 her face flushed with eagerness and heat. 
 
 " Yes, dear, all yourself," Mrs. Knowles 
 agreed, and the coffee being made, she called 
 her guests again to the table, where half a 
 canteloupe lay on each plate. After that they
 
 MRS. KNOWLES' GUESTS 149 
 
 had oatmeal, and then coffee and eggs and Gra- 
 ham gems. 
 
 " I'm clean ashamed to take another, but they 
 do taste so good," Mrs. Neal apologised, as her 
 hostess pressed her to take another gem; and 
 then she added doubtfully, " I guess not many 
 ladies can cook like you do, ma'am." 
 
 Mrs. Knowles laughed. " Why, yes, in- 
 deed," she replied. " You could easily cook 
 everything we have here, and there is nothing 
 that costs much." 
 
 Mrs. Neal shook her head. " We don't know 
 how us poor folks," she said, " an' we don't 
 have the things to cook with, nor the good 
 bakin' oven. No, we can't ever do it but I 
 wish we could." 
 
 " You can," Mrs. Knowles assured her ear- 
 nestly. "If you'll come here once a week, I'll 
 be glad to teach you to cook some simple dishes 
 that will taste good and cost no more than 
 what you have now. Do you mind telling me 
 what you do have for breakfast generally ? " 
 
 " I buys the bread it's less trouble than 
 makin' it, an' my man has his chop or bit of 
 liver or bacon. I fry them for him an' make 
 the coffee. Annie an' me has bread an' 
 coffee." 
 
 " Do you ever make cornbread or Johnny 
 cakes of Indian meal ? " 
 
 The woman shook her head. 
 
 " Corn meal is cheap and nourishing, like oat- 
 meal. I think your husband would like the
 
 150 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 cakes made of it, and I'll gladly show you how 
 to make them, if you care to learn ? " 
 
 Mrs. Neal looked doubtful. Annie, who had 
 been listening with all her heart in her eyes, 
 now asked anxiously: 
 
 " You goin' to show Maggie Hagan's mother 
 how to make them things?" 
 
 " Yes, she is coming here to learn more about 
 cooking," Mrs. Knowles answered, smiling 
 down into the earnest little face. 
 
 " Then you must you must, mummy. Tell 
 the lady you will, mummy ! " Annie urged 
 imploringly. 
 
 "You'll have to come to please Annie and 
 bring her with you so she can learn too," Mrs. 
 Knowles said. 
 
 "Oh, mummy, will you?" the child pleaded, 
 and Mrs. Neal, evidently one to be swayed by 
 the stronger will, weakly consented to " give it 
 a try, anyhow." 
 
 She went home later with a loaf of Graham 
 bread and a bag of cookies, Annie following with 
 a very grave face, plainly reluctant to leave this 
 palace of delights. At the door the child turned 
 back, hesitating a moment, then catching Mrs. 
 Knowles' hand she dropped a swift kiss upon 
 it and ran off without another backward 
 glance. 
 
 " There's something to build on in the child. 
 She's a dear little thing, not like most around 
 here," Mrs. Knowles said, apparently to Duffer, 
 as she went back into the room. Duffer lifted
 
 MRS. KNOWLES' GUESTS 151 
 
 a corner of his lip and his mistress looked at 
 him reproachfully. 
 
 " Duffer," she said, " you are not to turn up 
 your nose or your lip in that scornful fash- 
 ion at my friends. Yes, my friends do you 
 hear? I know her skirts were dirty and drab- 
 bled, and her shoes all run over at the heels, 
 and she's as limp and colourless as a jelly-fish 
 almost but the child isn't, and we'll save her 
 in time, through the child. Oh, yes " as 
 Duffer darted to the door, ears alert and tail 
 wagging swiftly "you know Teddy's step as 
 well as I do, and you're ready enough to wel- 
 come him, but I believe he's bringing somebody 
 with him " 
 
 She opened the door before Marston could 
 knock. 
 
 " I've brought my cousin to see you, Mrs. 
 Knowles," he said, " but you are not to call her 
 Miss Armstrong, you know she's only just 
 Marjorie Marjie, for short. She's going to 
 stay at Helm House for a while." 
 
 " She's welcome, by whatever name you call 
 her," Mrs. Knowles replied, holding the girl's 
 hand and looking admiringly into her beautiful 
 face. Yet beautiful as it undoubtedly was, it 
 was not a happy face. 
 
 " Teddy said I must come now, Mrs. Knowles. 
 I hope we are not interrupting you, so early in 
 the morning," the girl said politely, as her host- 
 ess drew forward a chair for her. 
 
 " Not a bit, not a bit," Mrs. Knowles assured
 
 152 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 her heartily, " I love to have visitors. I've had 
 two friends spending the night with me. 
 They've just gone." She told them a little about 
 Annie and her mother. 
 
 " But how can you bear to have such people 
 sleep in your beds and use your baths ? " the 
 girl exclaimed. 
 
 " Why, I want to help them and make them 
 happy. That's what I'm here for, you know," 
 Mrs. Knowles answered with a glance of sur- 
 prise ; and then she added, " You'll have to meet 
 all sorts of people at Helm House, child." 
 Marjorie frowned; but the next instant the 
 frown melted into a charming dimpled smile. 
 " Oh, yes, but it seems different somehow there 
 at the Settlement. That is on purpose for ' the 
 other half,' but here this is your own home, 
 and it is such a dear old house ! I should think 
 you'd feel as if such people tainted it with their 
 oh, their horrid old clothes and everything. 
 I don't see how I'm ever going to endure them 
 near me," she ended with a shudder. 
 
 Teddy frankly scowled at her. " I told you 
 you'd be sick of it before you began ! " he ex- 
 claimed. " You'd better give it up and go 
 home to-night." 
 
 " No," the girl set her pretty lips firmly. 
 " I'm going to stay long enough this time to 
 find out what the other girls see in it to make 
 them so crazy over settlement work. And be- 
 sides, it will be a change. Think how lovely 
 home will seem after a few weeks or
 
 MRS. KNOWLES' GUESTS 153 
 
 months of Helm House ! " she added, with a 
 laugh. 
 
 But when, after a little, she rose to go, she 
 suddenly leaned forward and touched her cheek 
 to Mrs. Knowles' face. " Please," she coaxed, 
 " if I get too homesick at Helm House, may I 
 come over and spend a day or a night with you ? 
 I know I should love it." 
 
 " And I'd love to have you," was the quick re- 
 sponse. " I'm afraid I shall be tempted to hope 
 that you will get homesick soon but no, of 
 course I don't really mean that," Mrs. Knowles 
 ended gravely. 
 
 " I shall come then, and soon," the girl flung 
 gaily back as she went away. " I feel an 
 attack of homesickness coming on this very 
 minute." 
 
 But it was a month later that she kept her 
 word, though she had flitted in and out several 
 times in the interval. Then one night she ap- 
 peared just before supper-time, running lightly 
 up the inside way from the basement, and tap- 
 ping softly at the door. 
 
 " I didn't want to go to the front door and 
 ring," she said, putting her hands on Mrs. 
 Knowles' shoulders to keep her from rising. 
 " I wanted just to ' run in ' as if I ' belonged,' 
 you know. Do you mind? And oh, have you 
 anybody else coming to-night any of the ' other 
 half?" 
 
 " Nobody else is coming, and I'm glad to 
 have you, dear," Mrs. Knowles assured her.
 
 154 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 " I was just wishing that I had some one to 
 eat supper with me, and thinking I'd have to go 
 down and ask Theodore to come and keep me 
 company." 
 
 " Don't ask him to-night, please. Take me 
 instead," the girl coaxed. " I don't want any 
 Theodores nor even any Teddys, though Ted 
 is a dear boy or was, until your Theodore be- 
 witched him." 
 
 " He is. They are both dear boys," Mrs. 
 Knowles declared with conviction. 
 
 Marjorie flung that lightly aside. "All right 
 they are, if you say so," she agreed half 
 mockingly, " but to-night I don't want anybody 
 but you, and I don't want you to want anybody 
 but me; and oh, may I help you get supper in 
 that dear little blue-and-white kitchen? I never 
 helped to get a supper in all my life except a 
 chafing-dish supper, and those don't count." 
 
 " You certainly shall, dearie come right along 
 out," and Mrs. Knowles led the way to the 
 kitchen. 
 
 Marjorie looked about with sparkling eyes. 
 " It's just the dearest place! " she cried. " And 
 do you really and truly let dirty, ragged, shimmy 
 women and children into this little para- 
 dise?" 
 
 " Yes. I expect it seems really almost like 
 paradise to them, compared with the dreadful 
 places some of them live in," Mrs. Knowles 
 added, a shadow falling over her kind old 
 face.
 
 MRS. KNOWLES' GUESTS 155 
 
 " Oh, forget them for this one night ! " Mar- 
 jorie cried impetuously. " I'm I'm sick of 
 poor-folksy folks. How those settlement peo- 
 ple endure it but there! I didn't mean to 
 think of them to-night." She made a little airy 
 gesture as if flinging aside something distaste- 
 ful, then added lightly, " What a love of an 
 apron! And what a dreadfully frivolous per- 
 son you must be, Mrs. Knowles, to trim your 
 kitchen aprons with such beautiful ruffles ! " 
 She slipped on the apron that Mrs. Knowles 
 handed her, and turned like a child to have it 
 buttoned. " Now what are we going to make 
 for our supper, dear Mother Knowles ? " 
 
 Her face, smiling and dimpled, looked so be- 
 witching above the white ruffles that Mrs. 
 Knowles could not resist the impulse to kiss it. 
 To her surprise, the girl's arms were flung about 
 her neck, and the pretty face hidden for a mo- 
 ment on the broad shoulder. Only for a mo- 
 ment, however, and if there were tears in the 
 dark eyes when they were lifted, they were in- 
 stantly concealed under the long lashes. 
 
 " Come now, what are we going to make ? " 
 the gay voice repeated. " Something with flour 
 in it. I never sifted any flour in my life, but 
 I've watched the girls in the cooking classes at 
 Helm House, and I'm wild to get my hands into 
 some flour and to beat some eggs and every- 
 thing." 
 
 "Well, then, suppose we make some puffs? 
 They take eggs and flour and a deal of beating."
 
 156 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 "Puffs it shall be, and 111 do the beating. 
 My arms are ever so strong." 
 
 So, under Mrs. Knowles' direction Marjorie 
 sifted the flour, beat the eggs, and added milk 
 and salt and then beat and beat until her 
 arms were tired; but she would not give it 
 up. 
 
 " I want to do every single bit myself," she 
 said. 
 
 When at last the puffs were put in the oven of 
 the gas stove, Marjorie sat with her eyes on 
 the clock, and in twenty minutes cautiously 
 opened the oven door. " Oh, they're lovely 
 all golden brown and puffed 'way, 'way up ! " 
 she exulted. 
 
 And they were as good as they looked, so 
 good that Marjorie declared that she could eat 
 half a dozen herself; but her appetite was satis- 
 fied long before she had disposed of that number. 
 After supper she wiped the dishes, and as Mrs. 
 Knowles glanced at her, she was reminded of 
 Annie's mother as she had stood that other 
 night where Marjorie oh, such a contrast! 
 was standing now. 
 
 The girl's dark eyes were searching hers, and 
 suddenly Marjorie asked, " What are you think- 
 ing of, dear Mother Knowles to make you 
 look like that ? But no don't tell me. I'm sure 
 it's about some of those people and we're not 
 to think of them to-night at least, not yet." 
 She broke into a string of merry nonsense until 
 she had Mrs. Knowles shaking with laughter,
 
 MRS. KNOWLES' GUESTS 157 
 
 and the dishes were finished in a gale of 
 merriment. 
 
 But after that, when the two went back to the 
 other room and Marjorie had lighted the fire 
 as little Annie had done that other night, the 
 girl's mood suddenly changed. The bright 
 face became grave, and the dark eyes filled with 
 sombre shadows. 
 
 " Sit down here in this big chair, please ; I 
 want to talk to you," Marjorie said; yet when 
 Mrs. Knowles was in the chair, the girl did 
 not seem ready at once to talk. She sat on 
 the floor, leaning her dark head against the 
 other's knee, and stared thoughtfully into the 
 fire for a long time without saying a word, 
 while Duffer crept up and settled himself, with 
 a sigh of content, on her skirt. Finally she 
 looked up. 
 
 " Mother Knowles you don't mind if I call 
 you that?" 
 
 " I love to have you, dear." 
 
 " And I love to say it. You see I haven't 
 been ' mothered ' since I was seven. Maybe I'd 
 be happier and better if I had been. I'm 
 sure I should. As it is, I'm just a perverse 
 bundle of contradictions. I used to be contented 
 enough until Teddy came down here to live. 
 You know he goes home once a month, and he 
 says things oh, all sorts of unsettling things. 
 I suppose he gets them from Theodore Bryan. 
 I'm sure he never had any such notions before 
 he went to college and got to adoring Bryan.
 
 158 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 Uncle Ed just laughs and says, ' It's a phase. 
 He'll outgrow it and be like other people after 
 a while.' Do you suppose he will ? " 
 
 " Do you hope he will, child ? " The question 
 was very gently put. 
 
 " I don't know," Marjorie answered slowly. 
 " Sometimes I think I do and sometimes I think 
 I don't. I'm dreadfully afraid all his talk has 
 unsettled me so that I never can be really com- 
 fortable as I used to be anyhow. You see " 
 she lifted an earnest face in the firelight " I 
 suppose you'll think I'm dreadful, but / do not 
 like being with people whose clothes smell of 
 beer and cabbage and tobacco who have grimy 
 hands and broken fingernails. It isn't that I'm 
 not sorry for them I am just as sorry as I 
 can be, and I'm willing to give money to help, 
 willing and glad to do that." 
 
 " But not willing to give yourself." 
 
 "No!" replied the girl passionately, "I'm 
 not willing to give myself. Isn't it enough that 
 I'm willing to pay somebody else to do the 
 work in my place ? Isn't it, Mother Knowles ? " 
 
 " That is for you to say, dear." 
 
 " But I want somebody else to bolster me up, 
 and help me argue down whatever it is in me 
 that won't let me be at peace. I suppose you'd 
 say it is my conscience." 
 
 Mrs. Knowles smiled, touching with gentle 
 fingers the dark head at her knee. 
 
 " Nobody can come between you and your 
 conscience, child," she said.
 
 MRS. KNOWLES' GUESTS 159 
 
 " Oh, dear ! " the girl sighed. " I think liv- 
 ing is so hard sometimes. I've tried to like 
 the work at the Settlement the other girls 
 seem to like it but after a week or two of it, 
 I get so that I fairly loathe the sight of the 
 heavy beery men and the women with their cot- 
 ton laces and draggled skirts, and the unspeak- 
 able children. I do loathe the whole atmosphere 
 of Helm House and then I pack my bag and 
 take the first train home; and no words can 
 express how lovely my own room and my nice 
 bed seem to me and the table. I feel like 
 taking deep breaths, as one does at the seashore." 
 
 " And yet you come back." 
 
 " Yes. What do you suppose makes me ? 
 / don't know." Marjorie's lifted eyes were full 
 of perplexed questioning. 
 
 " Ah, child, you are being led," Mrs. Knowles 
 said softly, " and you'll find the way of peace 
 by-and-by." 
 
 Marjorie drew a long impatient breath. 
 " But I want peace now now ! " she cried. " I 
 hate waiting for things ! " 
 
 " Child waiting times come often in most 
 lives. You can't hurry God." 
 
 Marjorie was silent then, but the mutinous 
 glint in her eyes was not lost on the older 
 woman. Being a wise woman, however, she 
 knew when to be silent, and presently the girl 
 flung aside her grave questionings and became 
 the charming companion that she knew so well 
 how to be.
 
 160 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 The next morning at breakfast she was run- 
 ning over with mischief, teasing Mrs. Knowles, 
 frolicking with Duffer, and carefully ignoring all 
 reference to Helm House and the work there. 
 Only when she was going away, the laughter 
 died out of her eyes for a moment. 
 
 " You're a dear a dear dear and I love you, 
 Mother Knowles," she said softly, and was gone ; 
 and it was months before Mrs. Knowles saw her 
 again. 
 
 " She got sick of the whole business, and 
 just quit and went home," Teddy explained a 
 week later, " and a good thing too. She's 
 about as fit for settlement work as a butterfly 
 is to make honey." 
 
 " She's a beautiful butterfly," Mrs. Knowles 
 answered, recalling the dark vivid face in the 
 firelight that night. 
 
 "Yes," Teddy returned with a grin, "you're 
 not the only one that thinks so. She has a long 
 string of admirers, but so far she keeps 'em 
 all guessing. I'm off, but here's Bryan to keep 
 you company," he added, as Bryan entered, and 
 with his hand on the door Marston paused to 
 say, " Keep him there by your fire to-night, 
 Mother Knowles. He's tired out and needs a 
 rest. Those beggars he works for never give 
 him any peace." 
 
 As the door closed behind him, Mrs. Knowles 
 said : " Sit down here, Theodore ; you do look 
 tired. What is the matter? Too much work, 
 or is something troubling you ? "
 
 MRS. KNOWLES' GUESTS 161 
 
 " Maybe I am a little tired, but that's noth- 
 ing," he answered. " I'm troubled about Jim." 
 
 " Tell me," she said, putting aside her work 
 to give undivided attention. 
 
 " Why, you know I've been a bit more hope- 
 ful about Jim lately. He's been a great deal 
 more decent, has dropped much of his street 
 talk, and stands Mack's rough jokes and jeers 
 without a knockdown fight more than once a 
 day, and he was really beginning to get on 
 fairly well with the shop work, and now all at 
 once he's quit hasn't come near the shop 
 for almost a week, nor to the club meetings 
 either." 
 
 " And you can't find out why ? " 
 
 " Yes, I have found out. It seems that his 
 father has asserted his authority, and threat- 
 ened all sorts of things if Jim comes here any 
 more." 
 
 " From what you've told me of Jim, I 
 shouldn't think he'd stand being ordered about 
 even by his father." 
 
 "That's right," Bryan assented. "I don't 
 think anybody could frighten Jim for himself 
 but it seems his father has threatened to break 
 up our work here and, incidentally, to break my 
 head, if Jim doesn't keep away." 
 
 Mrs. Knowles leaned forward, speaking 
 eagerly. " But, Theodore, if Jim stays away for 
 that reason, you ought to be glad. It shows 
 that he is concerned for you that he cares." 
 
 " Exactly, and that's just the point. I can't
 
 162 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 let the poor fellow go now, when I'm really 
 beginning to get a hold on him, don't you see ? " 
 
 " I see your point of view. Do you think 
 his father really could I mean, would he dare 
 to do you or the shop any serious harm ? " 
 
 " From the looks of him one of the boys 
 pointed him out to me the other day on the 
 street I should say that he wouldn't hesitate at 
 anything. He looks a regular brute. And be- 
 ing a great, heavy-fisted, bullying chap, he has 
 quite a following among the men he works with, 
 I understand. Of course, I don't care that for 
 his threats, so far as I, personally, am con- 
 cerned," Bryan snapped his fingers carelessly, 
 " but it's Jim and the other boys I'm thinking 
 about. Several others have stopped coming this 
 last week or two. It all shows that Jim's father 
 has the power as well as the inclination to make 
 trouble for us." 
 
 " Oh, I'm sorry ; they all seemed to have such 
 a good time with your open fire and the nuts 
 and popcorn, that night you asked me down," 
 Mrs. Knowles said regretfully. 
 
 " They do. That open fire draws them like 
 a magnet. They love to roast apples and pop 
 corn over it, and to talk and tell stories. I 
 manage to slip in many a good lesson with 
 the stories and nuts, Mother Knowles, and 
 they never find out what I'm up to. The 
 Free Talk Club they've dubbed it, and they 
 are entirely free to speak their minds. I tell 
 you it has choked me up more than once when
 
 MRS. KNOWLES' GUESTS 163 
 
 one of those big fellows, getting earnest and 
 interested, has forgotten himself and let an oath 
 or a low word slip out to see his face change 
 suddenly, and then, without a word from any- 
 body, he gets up and leaves. They made the 
 rule themselves, you know, that there should be 
 clean talk before the fire, and anybody who 
 breaks the rule shuts himself out for a week. 
 You can't have any idea how hard it is for 
 those boys to break themselves of that one 
 habit. They learn to swear as soon as they can 
 speak." 
 
 " I don't see how they came to make that rule, 
 Theodore. How did they ? " 
 
 " One or two of them had been over to our old 
 club and knew that that was one of the rules 
 there that's self-governing too, you see," Bryan 
 explained. " That's the way it came about, and 
 these Sabin Street boys, of course, never hav- 
 ing tried before, had no faintest idea what they 
 were letting themselves in for. Mack had a 
 mighty hard time for months. It seemed as 
 if he never could tame that quick Irish tongue 
 of his, but he's beginning now to get a grip 
 on it." 
 
 "And Tony?" 
 
 " Tony is so close-mouthed that it wasn't so 
 hard for him as for most of them. And then 
 Tommy O'Brien is doing a lot for Tony. If 
 I could only get some of the others interested in 
 some helpless soul like Tommy! But there 
 aren't many like him poor old Tommy ! "
 
 164 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 " I'm going over to see Tommy the first 
 chance I can get," Mrs. Knowles declared, " but 
 I've had my hands full lately with Mrs. Simms. 
 She's growing weaker all the time, and needs a 
 great deal of attention. One of the deacon- 
 esses is coming to-morrow to take care of her." 
 
 Mrs. Simms and her grandchild occupied one 
 set of rooms on the upper floor. 
 
 "And when she is gone, what will be done 
 with Elizabeth ? " Bryan enquired. 
 
 " I suppose I shall have to keep her. There 
 doesn't seem to be anybody else to do it. She's 
 a strange little creature; I can't feel right to 
 have her sent to an institution with all sorts 
 of children. Elizabeth won't grow up right, 
 unless she's loved up." 
 
 " You're a good woman, Mother Knowles," 
 Bryan smiled across at her. 
 
 " It's little I'm doing just filling in the days 
 till I'm called," she answered quietly, " but you, 
 Theodore, you are giving your best your whole 
 life." 
 
 Before Bryan's mind there flashed a vision of 
 one who had given all his life such a splendid 
 life, but all too short to work for his fellows. 
 That rarely beautiful smile transformed his 
 plain, strong face, as he said quietly, " Could 
 I put my life to any better use ? "
 
 CHRISTMAS ON SABIN STREET 
 
 DECEMBER came, and as the great holi- 
 day drew near, Green Tree House was 
 all a-thrill with the spirit of Christmas. 
 Some of the Sabin Street children had known 
 a little of Christmas through mission schools 
 and settlements, but most of them had no share 
 in the joy of the season beyond that found in 
 peering wistfully into fascinating shop windows, 
 or sniffing the spicy fragrance of trees and 
 greenery displayed at corner groceries. The 
 boys in Bryan's old club, however, knew all 
 about Christmas trees, and gifts, and celebra- 
 tions, and the stories they told stirred some of 
 the Sabin Street boys to envy and emulation. 
 
 Mrs. Knowles was planning a Christmas fes- 
 tival for the girls who came to her for cooking 
 and sewing lessons, and there was to be the usual 
 tree and social evening at the old club, but Bryan 
 had not decided about the Sabin Street Christ- 
 mas when, one evening, six boys trooped into 
 the " fire room," as they had christened the 
 room with the big fireplace. Bryan set chairs 
 for them before the fire and waited for them 
 to tell why they had come. It was Mack who 
 began. 
 
 166
 
 166 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 " Say, boss, we want a Christmas tree like 
 they're goin' to have 't the club." 
 
 " How much do you want it ? " Bryan 
 questioned. 
 
 The boys stared at him and then at each other. 
 Finally, one of the younger ones piped up, 
 " Lots." 
 
 " You want it ' lots,' do you, Johnny ? Well, 
 I'll help you, of course. What's your plan? 
 How are you going to pay for it?" 
 
 Surprise and disappointment crept into the 
 faces of the boys. Then one enquired, " How 
 does the club fellers get theirs ? " 
 
 "They appoint a committee to raise money 
 among the members for the tree and the trim- 
 mings and candles. Anybody who likes can 
 put on a present for anybody else," Bryan ex- 
 plained. 
 
 Deep disgust was manifest on Mack's freckled 
 face. " An' don't the fellers git nothin' gave to 
 'em off the tree?" he demanded gruffly. 
 
 " Sometimes sometimes not," Bryan told 
 him. 
 
 " Aw, that's no good ! " growled Mack. " Say, 
 fellers, de Mission does us better'n that." 
 
 " You hush up, Mack ! " cried another, giving 
 Mack a poke with his elbow. " We wanter 
 hear somebody else talk. Say," to Bryan, 
 " you tell us how we c'n get a tree. We're goin' 
 to have one we be." 
 
 Bryan's rare smile flashed out at that. " If 
 that's the way you feel about it we'll surely
 
 CHRISTMAS ON SABIN STREET 167 
 
 have one, Tom," he said, and then to the other 
 he added gravely, " Mack, I don't believe in the 
 kind of Christmas tree you are thinking about 
 not for big fellows like you, fast growing into 
 men. You don't want things given to you as 
 if you were little children. You want to get 
 them yourselves for yourselves and for other 
 people. Isn't that so?" He looked from one 
 to another. 
 
 " Yes, sir-ee ! " 
 
 " Bet yer life 'tis ! " 
 
 " We ain't no Mission kids goin' a-beggin'." 
 
 In one breath came the responses from Tom 
 and two others; the remaining three were silent 
 and dubious. 
 
 " Now I'll tell you," Bryan went on, " what 
 I'll do. I'll provide the tree that will be my 
 share. You boys who want a tree must get 
 money for the candles and trimmings." 
 
 " How much'll it be ? " demanded Tom. 
 
 " Well, half a dollar will buy considerable. 
 We'll do what we can with that. I'm sure 
 Mother Knowles will pop some corn for you, 
 and maybe her girls will string it." 
 
 " Kin we have it here in the fire room ? " 
 questioned the youngest. 
 
 " Of course you can." 
 
 "An' won't we have no givin's?" demanded 
 Mack gloomily. 
 
 " Just as many as you like the more the bet- 
 ter," Bryan told him. Then to the others, 
 " Suppose you form yourselves into a commit-
 
 168 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 tee you six and if I were you I'd make a 
 rule that nobody should come to your tree un- 
 less he put on it a present for some one. That's 
 the way they are going to do at the club this 
 year." 
 
 Again there was an exchange of doubtful 
 glances. " Lots o' the fellers won't come then," 
 muttered one. 
 
 " Then let them stay away. You don't want 
 any one who is selfish and stingy at your Christ- 
 mas celebration, do you?" Bryan asked. 
 
 "Dunno," muttered one, while another de- 
 manded : 
 
 "D'ye mean as we's got to give presents to 
 somebody ? " 
 
 " Why, of course. That's what Christmas is 
 for to give you a chance to give and to make 
 other people happy. If I were you, I wouldn't 
 have any boy come, as I said, who did not bring 
 a gift to haftg on the tree for some one. It can 
 be for somebody in his own home, or for 
 some other boy; and it can be something he 
 makes himself or something he buys. If it's 
 ever so little, each one should bring something. 
 That's the only kind of Christmas tree we want 
 in this room. I know you'll agree with me when 
 you think it over." 
 
 They asked a few more questions and then 
 went away, doubtful and far from enthusiastic 
 most of them; but Tom Brown had made up 
 his mind to have that tree, and Tom was a boy 
 who could not be easily turned aside from a
 
 purpose once formed. Tom canvassed the 
 neighbourhood; he argued, persuaded, in some 
 cases compelled, the Sabin Street boys to lend a 
 hand. He even won over Mack by making him 
 chairman of the Christmas committee, and prom- 
 ising not to ask Black Jim to have a share in 
 it. And Mack, being chairman, promptly issued 
 his orders to " the gang." Every boy was to 
 contribute, if no more than a single penny, and 
 every boy must bring a gift to put on the tree. 
 
 Now it was a fact that not one of these boys 
 had ever made a Christmas gift, though some 
 had received them at the Mission schools. The 
 difficulty for them lay, not so much in finding 
 something to give, as in deciding on the one to 
 whom it should be given. " Get all you can 
 and give nothing to anybody," had ever been the 
 Sabin Street idea. Bryan, so keenly interested 
 in all the boys, watched the struggle that went 
 on in the minds of some of them at this time, 
 as he gathered it from chance words or eager 
 questions that he caught. But consciously or 
 unconsciously, he had been teaching the beauty 
 and privilege of service it was the atmosphere 
 in which he lived, and the boys who were much 
 with him had already begun to catch something 
 of his spirit, though they could not have put it 
 into words, even in their own minds. 
 
 And, as the Great Day drew near, it became 
 quite impossible for any of the boys who now 
 frequented Green Tree House to escape en- 
 tirely the beautiful contagion of the Christmas
 
 170 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 spirit. Some of them had sisters among Mother 
 Knowles' girls, and by this time there was not 
 one of them who was not planning a Christ- 
 mas surprise for somebody, and one boy caught 
 it from another. One discovered for the first 
 time that a fellow might make his mother a 
 Christmas gift, and one, a little chap whose 
 slender shoulders were bent from long service 
 as " little father " to three younger children, 
 was pathetically eager to hang on the tree 
 something for each one of them. So silently, 
 steadily, the sweet spirit of love crept into one 
 tough boyish heart after another, and swiftly 
 melted away the hard crust of selfishness, till 
 some were eager to do and give, and others were 
 at least ashamed not to do so. And so the 
 walls of the old house on Sabin Street heard 
 many a whispered consultation or confidence in 
 corners and halls, and the logs on the time- 
 worn hearth glowed and blazed and crackled, 
 as if they too had caught the Christmas spirit 
 of loving service, and were laughing for very 
 joy in it. 
 
 In the shop, Bryan and Marston had their 
 hands so full that they had to call in Jack Finney 
 and Dick Hunt to help them, for the little shop 
 was beginning to be known, and orders were 
 piling up faster than hands could be found or 
 trained to fill them. There were no eight-hour 
 working days here. When the day workers left 
 at six o'clock, their places were quickly filled by 
 boys who worked elsewhere during the day, and
 
 CHRISTMAS ON SABIN STREET 171 
 
 who came evenings to make their Christmas 
 gifts. Many a boy who began grudgingly to 
 make some trifle, just to ensure his having a 
 part in the celebration in the fire room, found 
 himself planning something else before the first 
 poor gift was finished; and so the beautiful 
 work went on, the boys never guessing that the 
 tasks their clumsy, unskilled fingers were slowly 
 completing were but the dim reflection of the 
 work which was going on in their souls. But 
 Bryan guessed he knew and his heart was glad. 
 And Teddy knew too, and forgot to be, or pre- 
 tend to be, bored and indifferent. He was here, 
 there, and everywhere, helping this boy and that, 
 making suggestions, lending a sympathetic ear 
 to whispered plans not seldom helping some 
 little fellow to carry out some scheme that re- 
 quired more pennies than could be found in the 
 boy's own ragged pockets. 
 
 On Christmas Eve Bryan came to Mrs. 
 Knowles' room to give her a " formal invita- 
 tion " from the boys to attend their celebra- 
 tion the next evening. "You are to be the 
 guest of honour," he said. " It was not my 
 suggestion the boys themselves proposed it." 
 
 " Bless their hearts, I wouldn't miss it for any 
 consideration," Mrs. Knowles answered heartily. 
 " My girls are to be here in the morning, so 
 that won't interfere." She lifted from the table 
 a box full of small packages, adding anxiously, 
 " I do hope I haven't left any boy out." 
 
 " Mother Knowles ! Do you mean to say that
 
 172 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 you have a gift for every one of our boys, as 
 well as all your girls ? " cried Bryan. 
 
 " Oh, well," she defended herself, " you see I've 
 nobody else to give to except those that would 
 not have any Christmas and a few old friends." 
 
 Bryan shook his head at her, then enquired, 
 "Where is Elizabeth?" 
 
 " I sent her to bed early. She is just about 
 wild with excitement. Poor little thing, I guess 
 this will be the first real happy Christmas she 
 has ever had." 
 
 "But not the last. She's a lucky child to 
 fall into your hands, Mother Knowles." 
 
 Mrs. Knowles shook her head doubtfully. " I 
 don't know. Sometimes I think I'm too old to 
 bring up a child, especially such a hot-tempered 
 little creature as Elizabeth. If I hadn't got to 
 loving her, I shouldn't dare undertake it, for 
 she certainly is enough, sometimes, to try the 
 patience of Job, with her temper and her 
 tantrums. But if I love her enough, I hope she 
 will come out all right in the end." 
 
 " She will, never doubt it." Bryan declared. 
 "* Bring her with you to-morrow night, of 
 course." 
 
 After a moment's silence, Mrs. Knowles said, 
 " Theodore, I haven't had a chance to tell you 
 about Jim." 
 
 " Jim ? " Bryan returned with quick interest 
 "What about Jim?" 
 
 " I think I've found the soft place in his 
 heart."
 
 CHRISTMAS ON SABIN STREET 178 
 
 " Trust you for that, Mother Knowles. I be- 
 lieve you'd find the soft place in the heart of 
 a stone. But tell me about Jim." 
 
 " I wish you could have seen him and heard 
 him, Theodore. He rang the bell, but when I 
 opened the door he looked as if he had half a 
 mind to turn and run. I guess coming in here 
 was one of the hardest things he ever did. I 
 don't see how he ever came to do it. At first 
 he sat on the edge of that chair twisting his 
 cap round and round in his hands, and looking 
 so red and uncomfortable, poor fellow! But I 
 just talked to him as easily as I could till he 
 got a little used to me, and finally, all of a 
 sudden, he blurted out, ' Say, I want ye to 
 tell me what to git fer a present a Christmas 
 present/ 
 
 " ' I'd like to help you plan a Christmas pres- 
 ent, but whom is it for? ' I asked him. 
 
 " You ought to have seen that boy's face, 
 Theodore. I surely did feel sorry for him, it 
 was so hard for him to tell me. I guess he 
 isn't much used to women- folks. Finally, he 
 stammered out, ' It's it's fer granny.' 
 
 " ' Your grandmother ? ' I said. ' That won't 
 be hard. Tell me a little about her and then 
 I shall know better what she would like. Do 
 you always give her a Christmas gift?' 
 
 " He shook his head. ' No,' he said, ' we 
 don't do things like that at our place. The old 
 man would bang me over the head if he knew 
 I was thinking of it. She's awful old, granny
 
 174 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 is older'n you, I guess, a lot an' she can't see 
 much. She can't walk neither,' he went on 
 eagerly, as if, now that he had begun, he rather 
 liked to talk of her. 
 
 " ' And she lives with you ? ' I asked. 
 
 " ' No/ he told me, ' she's in the poor- 
 house. They sent her there 'cause she couldn't 
 work no more.' He shook his head threaten- 
 ingly, and went on, ' I'll pay the old man off 
 for that some day, I will ! ' 
 
 " I let that pass and questioned him until I 
 found out that his mother died when he was a 
 little fellow, and this old grandmother was 
 ' mighty good ' to him, till his father brought 
 home a new wife. Then the grandmother was 
 promptly packed off to the almshouse. They 
 wouldn't tell Jim where she was, but he found 
 out through some neighbour, and he went to 
 see her and has kept on going ever since, and 
 now and then when he could, he has given her 
 a little money. But he doesn't dare let his 
 father know that he sees her, for fear he would 
 find some way to stop it." 
 
 "And what is the boy going to give his old 
 granny ? " Bryan asked. 
 
 "A little shawl to throw over her shoulders. 
 I bought it for him." 
 
 " Well, I'm glad, more glad than I can say, 
 that we've found Jim out. I shall know better 
 now how to manage him. If we can once get 
 him started on the right road, he'll stay there 
 and make good, I believe."
 
 CHRISTMAS ON SABIN STREET 175 
 
 " He doesn't come to the shop any more ? " 
 
 " No, but he still drops in occasionally at the 
 fire room evenings." 
 
 " You've gotten hold of him, Theodore ; I 
 could see that by the way he spoke of you, little 
 as he said." 
 
 " Have I ? I hope so, but I don't know. 
 Then he'll come to the tree to-morrow night, 
 since he is making a gift? " 
 
 " No, he says he doesn't want the boys to 
 know about his grandmother, for fear his father 
 will find out that he goes to see her." 
 
 " Poor lad, I see," returned Bryan, " but we 
 must have him if we can. I'll try to manage 
 it somehow." 
 
 Never was there such a Christmasy place as 
 Green Tree House the next day. In the morn- 
 ing the girls held high festival. In the after- 
 noon their mothers and grandmothers were Mrs. 
 Knowles' guests; and then at half-past seven 
 Mrs. Knowles and Elizabeth went down-stairs 
 to the Christmas tree. A hubbub of rough 
 boyish voices greeted them as they paused for 
 a moment in the doorway, and Mack, as chair- 
 man of the Christmas committee, hurried for- 
 ward to lead Mrs. Knowles to a chair decked 
 with evergreen. 
 
 The large, low, old-fashioned room was lighted 
 only by the fire that roared in the big fireplace 
 and the row of candles set in crimson apples 
 along the high mantelpiece. Over the mantel- 
 piece was the flag that was always there, and
 
 176 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 the walls were hung with holly and vines. At 
 one end of the room stood the tree in all its 
 glory of glowing colour and glittering tinsel, with 
 white festoons of popcorn draping it from top 
 to bottom. It was a large tree, and everywhere 
 on it that a candle could be fixed, there was 
 one. 
 
 " Who is to light the candles on the tree ? " 
 Bryan enquired, when Mack, with an elaborate 
 bow, had seated the honoured guest. Mack was 
 outdoing himself to-night. Now, with a new- 
 born impulse of gallantry, he responded in- 
 stantly. 
 
 " The little lady, of course," and he put a 
 small taper, fastened to the end of a long stick, 
 into the proud hands of Elizabeth. Elizabeth 
 had never before been called " a little lady." 
 
 " Oh, can I ? " she cried, quivering with de- 
 light. "But I can't reach." 
 
 " Why not ? " said Bryan, and the next in- 
 stant the child was lifted to his shoulder, where 
 trembling with half-fearful bliss, she clung with 
 one arm around his neck while, with the long 
 stick, she set the little candles a-gleam all over 
 the tree, every boy, watching with breathless 
 interest, and calling prompt attention to any 
 taper that she chanced to overlook. When the 
 tree was all a-glow with the soft glimmering 
 lights, a sudden silence fell on the room. Some- 
 thing new and sweet was stirred in the hearts 
 of those rough street boys by this their very 
 own Christmas tree. It meant much to them,
 
 CHRISTMAS ON SABIN STREET 177 
 
 just because they had worked hard and made 
 sacrifices for it. In a vague dim fashion, it 
 spoke of things strange to them things high 
 and pure and beautiful, that had never come so 
 near their lives before. Then, through the sweet 
 hush stole a strain of music, soft and low, like 
 the far-off echo of angel voices, swelling a lit- 
 tle, then slowly, slowly, dying into silence. 
 
 With a long deep breath from one and another 
 the spell was broken, and in an instant the room 
 was again full of eager clamorous voices. 
 
 " Play some more ! " 
 
 " More, more ! " 
 
 "Fiddle! Fiddle! Fiddle!" 
 
 But Bennie shook his head and put the violin 
 carefully aside as Bryan said, " No more now, 
 boys. He'll play for you later, but now I think 
 some of you want to see what is in those pack- 
 ages under the tree. Your chairman has asked 
 me to distribute the gifts, so I'll hand this" 
 he picked up the package nearest him, " to 
 Tom Brown." 
 
 Tom, flushed with mingled pleasure and em- 
 barrassment, stepped forward to receive his gift 
 a set of drafting instruments from Marston 
 while Bryan explained that but for Tom's de- 
 termination and perseverance, they might not 
 have had any tree at all. Tom, who had given 
 indications of ability in drawing plans, was so 
 overwhelmed when he opened the box, that he 
 barely remembered to mutter his clumsy thanks 
 before he slid back to his seat.
 
 178 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 As the distribution went on, Mrs. Knowles, 
 who was as eagerly interested as any of the 
 boys, was stirred to tender laughter over some 
 of the gifts, such as the jewel-box that one 
 boy had made for his mother, whose only 
 " jewels " were her seven children and the 
 paperknife another had whittled out for his 
 father, who could neither read nor write; but 
 she looked through a mist of tears at the cheap 
 toys the "little father" of three had bought 
 with his few hard-earned pennies, and at the 
 vivid salmon-pink ribbon another had hung on 
 the tree for his lame sister. And Mack Mack 
 had laboured long over the making of a puzzle- 
 box which, with the air of one accustomed to 
 the bestowal of gifts, he presented to Mrs. 
 Knowles. And Tony Trudo was there, by vir- 
 tue of a half-dozen clothes-pins of his own 
 manufacture, which he coldly dumped into the 
 lap of Elizabeth, who happened to be sitting 
 near him. Tony carried himself with an air of 
 aloofness, condescending to no enthusiasm over 
 the tree or the occasion; but Bryan could be 
 very patient with him, remembering the con- 
 venient little case of drawers he had made for 
 Tommy O'Brien's Christmas gift, and Tommy's 
 unspeakable delight therein. 
 
 And Black Jim was there in a corner, so quiet 
 that Bryan had to seek him out. The gift that 
 secured him entrance was a yardstick, which he 
 had been asked to make for Mrs. Knowles. Jim 
 had not acquired much skill in the use of tools,
 
 CHRISTMAS ON SABIN STREET 179 
 
 but he did make that, and Bryan was glad to 
 see him there at all. 
 
 At first, the boys had manifested but a luke- 
 warm interest in the gifts, which is not sur- 
 prising, since most of them were poor cheap 
 things, made or given simply because a gift 
 must be made by every boy who wanted to 
 have a share in the festivities of the evening; 
 but when Bryan began to hand out Mrs. 
 Knowles' gifts, and every boy found himself 
 remembered, there was a swift change of senti- 
 ment. So it seemed that it wasn't " only jest 
 girls " that Mother Knowles was interested in 
 she thought something of the boys too. 
 
 The hard, coarse, young faces softened as they 
 looked at her, and when the last parcel had 
 been taken from the tree, Mack suddenly sprang 
 up and called out : 
 
 " Three cheers for Mother Knowles. Now, 
 yell!" And yell they did till the rafters rang. 
 
 And after that Mack darted out into the shop, 
 and came hurrying back with a huge bundle tied 
 up with much paper and string, which he de- 
 posited on the floor beside Bryan. 
 
 " It's your prisint from the Christmas com- 
 mittee," he announced, and then stood aside and 
 waited for the wrappings to be removed. Be- 
 ing removed, there was disclosed an immense 
 vase of imitation bronze, decorated with a big 
 bow of flaming yellow ribbon, to which was 
 pinned a slip of paper bearing the names of the 
 members of the committee.
 
 180 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 The vase itself was a hideous thing, but to 
 Bryan it was beautiful because of what the gift 
 signified; and as he thanked the givers, there 
 was that in his face and his voice that went 
 straight to the hearts of those rough lads, and 
 strengthened mightily his influence over them. 
 
 " He's white, that's what ! He's white clear 
 through," muttered Tom Brown in Mack's ear, 
 and Mack, for once forgetting himself, nodded 
 prompt agreement. 
 
 Then Bryan announced that there was some 
 cake and ice-cream in the other room, and 
 called for volunteers to help serve it, and 
 instantly every boy in the room volunteered. 
 When plates had been filled and emptied, some 
 of them twice over, the boys gathered quietly 
 about the fire, and Bryan told them a Christ- 
 mas story, and after that Bennie brought out 
 his violin. The boys dearly loved Bennie's 
 music. Even the roughest and hardest of them 
 could not wholly resist that spell, for Bennie 
 had the magic fingers that could play on heart- 
 strings as well as fiddle-strings, and he was 
 never happier than when he was there, playing 
 to Theodore's boys in the firelight. One old 
 favourite after another, the boys called for 
 some, witching strains that set young feet a-tap- 
 ping some soft, tender, old melodies that 
 thrilled the young hearts and awakened in them 
 longings for something better and purer than 
 their hard and evil lives had known. And then, 
 to an accompaniment so low and slight as hardly
 
 CHRISTMAS ON SABIN STREET 181 
 
 to be noticed, Bennie began to sing. He had 
 been for years a member of one of the church 
 choirs, and his voice, sweet and true, held the 
 restless boys as in a spell. " Oh, Little Town 
 of Bethlehem! " he sang; and then, "The Holy 
 City." 
 
 They did not ask for more; but when the 
 last low notes died slowly into silence, the boys 
 rose quietly and went away, carrying with them 
 a new conception of the meaning of Christmas.
 
 XI 
 
 DELLA 
 
 BRYAN, coming quickly out of an office one 
 January morning, nearly ran into a tall, 
 white-haired man who was passing 
 through the hall. As he lifted his hat with a 
 word of apology, the gentleman stopped and 
 said slowly: 
 
 " There is something in your face that seems 
 half familiar to me. Is your name one that I 
 ought to remember ? " 
 
 " I am not sure that you ever knew my name, 
 Mr. Harris," Bryan returned. "If you ever 
 did, you must have forgotten it years ago. I 
 am Theodore Bryan." 
 
 " Theodore Bryan," the other repeated, shak- 
 ing his head. " No, that tells me nothing, yet 
 I seldom forget a face, and I am sure I ought to 
 know you. Won't you step into my office here 
 and enlighten me ? " 
 
 Bryan followed him across the hall and into 
 a large room where a number of clerks were 
 at work. A throng of memories swept over 
 him as he passed through to the private office 
 and took the seat indicated by Mr. Harris. 
 182
 
 BELLA 183 
 
 " Now then," said that gentleman, seating 
 himself, " perhaps you can clear up the mys- 
 tery or satisfy my curiosity." 
 
 Bryan smiled as he asked, " Who cleans your 
 brass signs now, Mr. Harris?" 
 
 " Ah now I know. A plucky little shaver 
 you were, too. But the name had quite slipped 
 out of my memory. Bryan, you say it is ? " 
 
 "Theodore Bryan "Tode ' Bryan in those 
 days." 
 
 " That's it Tode Bryan." Mr. Harris leaned 
 back in his chair with an air of satisfaction. 
 " Well now, it certainly is queer that I should 
 have run across you again just at this time, for 
 I've thought of you a great many times, espe- 
 cially in these recent years. But let that wait. 
 It's quite evident that you are no longer in the 
 brass-cleaning business. I'd like to know what 
 you are doing. Tell me the whole story, for I'm 
 sure you have one." 
 
 " Not much of one," Bryan returned, and told 
 briefly of his struggle for an education. Mr. 
 Harris listened with close attention. 
 
 " So," he said when the story was told, 
 " you've not only earned an honest living, but an 
 education, too. And now, what are you going to 
 do with your education what are you doing ? " 
 
 " Helping to make honest American citizens," 
 was the quick reply; and then Bryan told of the 
 great disappointment that had changed all his 
 life-plans, and of the work he had now under- 
 taken.
 
 184 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 " But haven't you any personal ambitions ? " 
 Mr. Harris questioned curiously. " A young 
 man with your education and ability ought to be 
 able to climb high. There are plenty of posi- 
 tions carrying good fat salaries waiting for 
 young men with brains, and character, and busi- 
 ness ability, in these days." 
 
 " Yes, I know. I was with the Marston Com- 
 pany for two years." 
 
 " Edward A. Marston, of New York?" 
 
 "Yes," said Bryan. 
 
 " And why didn't you stay there ? " 
 
 Bryan answered gravely, " Who was it that 
 said he could not afford to spend his life making 
 money? I couldn't afford to spend mine so." 
 
 Mr. Harris pondered that in silence for a 
 moment ; then he suggested, " Yet money is 
 necessary even to carry on such work as you are 
 doing now." 
 
 "Yes, that's what I'm after to-day," Bryan 
 answered, with his quick flashing smile, " but the 
 money always comes. Mr. Hayes gave me that 
 just now." He took a check from his pocket- 
 book and held it out. 
 
 Mr. Harris noted the fact that the check was 
 drawn for five hundred dollars, and Bryan ex- 
 plained that the business he had established on 
 Sabin Street was growing so rapidly that more 
 space and more capital were needed, and several 
 men who were interested in social and industrial 
 experiments among the poor had offered to ad- 
 vance the money required. He had a chance to
 
 BELLA 185 
 
 rent one of the small houses adjoining Green 
 Tree House, and was planning to turn it into 
 shop-room as soon as possible. 
 
 " But," said Mr. Harris again, " haven't you 
 any personal plans? A young man generally 
 looks forward to having his own home and 
 family. You seem to be shutting yourself out 
 from all that at least for a good many years to 
 come." 
 
 " Yes," Bryan assented, " I am. But you see, 
 Mr. Harris, my life has been different from most 
 others. Such a girl as I might choose would 
 never think of marrying a fellow like me, who 
 doesn't even know who his parents were and 
 the kind that would marry me has no attraction 
 for me. So I have put all that aside. I shall 
 never marry." 
 
 " But you will not always be young and strong 
 as you are now. You should make some pro- 
 vision for old age. It will come, though it seems 
 so far away from you now." 
 
 Again that rare smile flashed over the plain, 
 earnest face of the young man. " The One for 
 whom I am working will take care of all that," 
 Bryan said with quiet conviction. 
 
 For a moment after that neither spoke; then 
 Mr. Harris said, " Bryan, I'm a lonely old fellow. 
 My wife and children are gone, and I've more 
 money than I shall ever use, though I am not a 
 rich man as riches are counted in these days. 
 But now and then I choose to make an invest- 
 ment for somebody else, and years ago, when you
 
 186 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 used to keep our signs here shining, I began to 
 take an interest in you. I like to help boys who 
 help themselves; not the limp, clammy sort that 
 haven't enough backbone to stand without lean- 
 ing on somebody else. I used to keep a sharp 
 eye on you when you were a homely little 
 freckle-faced ragamuffin, and I made up my 
 mind that you'd amount to something some time. 
 So one day years ago, as I said I invested a 
 little money for you. I didn't remember 
 your name, so I dubbed you John Doe, intending 
 to find out your real name I knew ' Tode ' was 
 a nickname but just about that time you 
 stopped coming to the office; and then I had to 
 go abroad on business for a year, and before I 
 came back, the matter somehow slipped out of 
 my mind, and when I did recall it, I couldn't get 
 track of you anywhere. So in John Doe's name 
 that stock stands to-day. If I had not run across 
 you again, it would, at my death, have gone to 
 some charity. Now it is yours. What is to be 
 done with it? If you let it remain where it is, 
 it will be a comfortable provision for the days 
 when ' the grasshopper will be a burden.' What 
 do you say ? " 
 
 Over Bryan's face many swift changes of ex- 
 pression had passed while he listened to this most 
 amazing story; now his voice was not quite 
 steady as he answered, " I wish, Mr. Harris, that 
 I could make you understand how deeply I am 
 touched by your great kindness a kindness so 
 totally unexpected that I can hardly believe it to
 
 BELLA 187 
 
 be real. I didn't suppose there was a person in 
 the world who would ever think of making any 
 such provision for me. But don't you see, sir 
 this simply proves to me that I need not worry 
 about the future ? I shall certainly be taken care 
 of, and this money would mean so much so 
 very much for my boys. Would you be willing 
 that it should be used for them ? " 
 
 " It is your own to do with as you will." 
 
 " But I want it to be as you will." 
 
 Mr. Harris laughed, but the laugh covered 
 some deeper feeling. 
 
 "If it will please you most to throw it away 
 on a pack of thankless street arabs why, do so. 
 You can draw on me at your pleasure for ten 
 thousand dollars," he replied. 
 
 When, half an hour later, Bryan left the office, 
 he felt as if he were walking on air. Now the 
 way was plain and straight for the enlargement 
 of his work. One plan after another flashed 
 through his mind, plans that until now he had 
 not dared to hope could be carried out for years 
 to come. But now there need be no long wait- 
 ing. A great joy filled his heart as he went back 
 to Green Tree House. 
 
 It was that same day that Mrs. Knowles, busy 
 over some sewing, failed to hear her door open 
 very gently, or the light footsteps that came 
 swiftly towards her. But when two hands 
 dropped lightly over her eyes from behind her 
 chair, and a muffled voice demanded, " Guess 
 who it is ! " she answered instantly.
 
 188 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 " I don't have to guess I know. Come 
 around where I can see you, child." 
 
 " But how did you know, Mother Knowles ? " 
 Marjorie questioned, as she drew a hassock to 
 her favourite place at her friend's knee. 
 
 " You can't disguise your voice, nor your soft 
 fingers. Do you suppose that I have any other 
 visitor like you here, child ? " 
 
 Marjorie's head dropped for a moment on 
 Mrs. Knowles' knee with a swift caressing move- 
 ment ; then she lifted it and said, " I've come 
 a-begging, Mother Knowles." 
 
 " Well, you can have it, of course." 
 
 " Have what ? " laughed the girl. 
 
 " Whatever you want if I have it," Mrs. 
 Knowles replied, as she laid a tender hand on the 
 thick dark hair of the girl. " Don't you know 
 that?" 
 
 " Ah, but you don't know what you are prom- 
 ising. It is a big thing that I want this 
 time." 
 
 " Well ? " the other questioned with a smile. 
 
 " I want to come here and stay with you for a 
 whole month. There! I told you it was a big 
 thing. If it is too big, please say so I'll under- 
 stand. I know you can't want to be bothered 
 with me for so long." 
 
 " Child, don't you know that I'd love to have 
 you? But tell me why you want to come." 
 
 "Why?" Marjorie repeated slowly. "For 
 ever so many reasons. I'm tired of the social 
 whirl. I like people some people " she
 
 DELLA 189 
 
 added, with a flash of fun in her eyes, " but I 
 don't like society, at least not in big doses. I've 
 had a plenty of it for the present and I feel as if 
 I were starving for some real people. Even 
 some of your Sabin Street people will be rather 
 refreshing for a change. Then Uncle Edward 
 has gone to the Pacific Coast on a long business 
 trip and it was lonesome at home, and I didn't 
 want to go again to Helm House, and I did want 
 to come here and be mothered. That's all. 
 Now, may I stay ? " 
 
 " Dear child, as if you needed to ask ! " Mrs. 
 Knowles' face was beaming. " A whole month ! 
 But if you get tired of Elizabeth and me and 
 Green Tree House, you must not feel bound to 
 stay the month out, you know." 
 
 " I know," the girl nodded gaily, " and I won't 
 feel bound." Then over her bright face a swift 
 change passed, and she spoke earnestly. " Dear 
 Mother Knowles, I wonder sometimes what kind 
 of queer spirit has gotten into me lately, but it is 
 something that will not let me be content to 
 dance through the years and think of nothing 
 but good times. And yet, I'm so selfish and 
 lazy, or something that I can't make up my 
 mind to spend my time as Teddy and Theodore 
 Bryan and you do just living all for other 
 people. I want some happiness for myself real 
 happiness, not just fun and gaiety. I'm afraid 
 you can't understand " 
 
 Mrs. Knowles nodded. " I think I understand, 
 dear, for though I am getting old now, I was a
 
 190 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 girl once, and I have not forgotten how a girl 
 feels, and wonders and suffers. Stay with me 
 as long or as short a time as you like. You will 
 be dearly welcome, and there will be no one to 
 blame you or find fault whatever you do or don't 
 do." 
 
 " Ah, what a dear Mother Knowles you are ! " 
 the girl sighed ; and then for a long time she was 
 silent, looking into the fire with eyes full of 
 troubled thought, while Mrs. Knowles, leaving 
 her to herself, sewed on as if she had been quite 
 alone. 
 
 For two days Mar j one Armstrong stayed 
 quietly in the pleasant rooms reading a little, em- 
 broidering a little, playing with Elizabeth, and 
 teasing Duffer, who adored her. She helped 
 Mrs. Knowles with her dainty cooking and 
 housekeeping, and looked on and listened silently 
 when the girls or their mothers came for help or 
 counsel, and there was never a day when some 
 did not come. 
 
 Then one evening Theodore Bryan came to 
 ask Mrs. Knowles if she would go with him to 
 see a girl whose baby was dying. 
 
 " It is that Delia Pruden I've told you about 
 you remember ? " he said. " A strange, pas- 
 sionate creature she is ; she seems to care for no 
 one else in the world, so far as I can find 
 out, but she fairly worships her baby, and I'm 
 really afraid she will kill herself when it 
 dies." 
 
 "There is no hope for it?" Mrs. Knowles
 
 She helped Mrs. Knowles with her dainty cooking and 
 housekeeping
 
 DELLA 191 
 
 questioned, as she stepped about in her swift 
 capable way, collecting some things that she 
 thought might be needed. 
 
 " No, the doctor says it cannot live the night 
 out," Bryan answered. 
 
 " Oh, the poor mother ! I know I know," 
 Mrs. Knowles said under her breath, as she 
 flung on her wraps. " I'm ready now. Is it 
 far?" 
 
 " Only four squares. I Good-evening, Miss 
 Armstrong," to Marjorie, who came in then from 
 the other room. 
 
 " I'm going too, Mother Knowles," the girl 
 said in a low tone. " No, don't say anything. 
 I am going." 
 
 " Very well, then," Mrs. Knowles agreed 
 quietly. " Are you warmly dressed ? Yes, I 
 see. Come, then," and the three went out to- 
 gether. 
 
 It was a bitter winter night, with a cutting 
 wind that felt as if it had blown over miles of 
 ice and snow. Even in her fur-lined coat, Mar- 
 jorie shivered as she hurried along the dark 
 street, clinging to Mrs. Knowles' arm. Hardly 
 a word was spoken by any of the three as they 
 went. Only once Mrs. Knowles asked in a low 
 tone, " Where is the father ? " and Bryan an- 
 swered : " I don't know Delia has been sup- 
 porting herself and the child. This is the 
 place." 
 
 Up three flights of stairs they went stairs 
 that would have been quite dark but for the
 
 192 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 lantern that Bryan carried. On the fourth floor 
 he knocked softly before he opened the door, and 
 the three passed in. 
 
 Marjorie dropped into a chair in the darkest 
 corner of the room, but Mrs. Knowles went 
 straight across to the narrow bed on which the 
 baby lay. The mother, on her knees beside it, 
 with one arm thrown across the little form, did 
 not so much as turn her head to see who had 
 come. 
 
 Marjorie gave one swift glance around the 
 bare, cheerless room, then her eyes were held by 
 the tragedy in the face of the young mother. 
 The wide black eyes seemed to burn with a 
 sombre fire. With her white lips and pinched 
 nostrils, the mother looked scarcely less death- 
 like than the child over whom she bent. Now 
 and then she gave a low moaning cry like that 
 of an animal in pain, but she did not look up 
 or answer when .Bryan spoke to her. Mrs. 
 Knowles did not speak. After one quick 
 glance at the baby face, she laid her hand on the 
 mother's shoulder and stood silent. Her experi- 
 enced eyes had told her that the end was near, 
 and in fact they had not been ten minutes in the 
 room, when the fluttering breath ceased, and the 
 spirit was gone. 
 
 The mother did not move until Mrs. Knowles, 
 stooping, gently closed the lids over the baby's 
 blue eyes. Then, with a wild cry, the girl started 
 up, roughly striking aside the kind hand from the 
 little face.
 
 BELLA 193 
 
 "You shan't, you shan't! She isn't dead!" 
 she cried out. " I tell you she is not dead ! Oh, 
 my baby, my baby ! There couldn't be any One 
 so cruel as to take my baby away from me when 
 I love her so. She isn't dead she's only sleep- 
 ing my baby ! " Leaning over the child, she 
 lifted one tiny hand there was no mistaking the 
 lifeless weight of it. With a low, wild cry, she 
 sprang up and would have fled from the room 
 if Bryan had not stepped before the door and 
 stayed her. 
 
 " Let me go. Let me go ! " she cried, her eyes 
 fierce and threatening. " What have I got to 
 live for now ? I won't live ! I can't live ! Let 
 me go, I say." 
 
 " Dear child," it was Mrs. Knowles' gentle 
 voice that spoke to the frantic creature, " dear 
 child, you wouldn't go and leave that precious 
 little body for others to care for? You want to 
 do yourself all there is to do for your baby I 
 know you do for I've lost a little baby, too. 
 And maybe you'll let me help you a little, with 
 these things that I have here " 
 
 She took from her bag some tiny lace-trimmed 
 garments, with soft linen cloths and fragrant 
 soap. For a moment the mother stood rigid, her 
 eyes terrible to see; then suddenly she turned 
 back and flung herself down again beside the 
 child, and buried her face in the pillow. In her 
 dark corner, Marjorie looked on, the tears run- 
 ning down her cheeks, while Bryan stirred the 
 few coals of fire in the broken stove and brought
 
 194 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 water from the faucet in the hall. When the 
 water was warm, Mrs. Knowles again gently 
 touched the kneeling figure. 
 
 " Sit here," she whispered, " and I'll put the 
 dear baby in your lap. You will want to bathe 
 and dress her yourself." 
 
 Without a word, the mother did as she was 
 told. Bryan had gone out again, and Marjorie 
 still sat in the dusky corner, watching with brim- 
 ming eyes as the two women prepared the baby 
 form for burial. When the fresh little robe was 
 put on, and the short curls brushed back from 
 the white forehead, the mother caught the beauti- 
 ful little body passionately to her breast. 
 
 " I can't let her be taken away oh, I can't ! " 
 she wailed. " She was all I had all." Then 
 her face darkened as she looked up at Mrs. 
 Knowles. " She kept me good, my baby did. I 
 had to be good while I had her. If there was a 
 God would He take away the one thing that 
 could keep a girl good say, would He ? Oh, He 
 wouldn't He couldn't! There isn't any God 
 there isn't anything to keep or help me, now my 
 little, little baby is gone." 
 
 "Not gone only gone before," said Mrs. 
 Knowles' low voice. " The baby is waiting for 
 you over there. By-and-by you will find her 
 again." 
 
 " Do you believe that ? Do you believe it ? " 
 the hoarse voice questioned fiercely. 
 
 " I believe it with all my soul." 
 
 For a long minute the dark, passionate eyes,
 
 DELLA 195 
 
 full of woeful sorrow, searched the older 
 woman's face, seeking the truth. 
 
 " Yes," the girl said at last, " yes, you believe 
 it. Whether it's true or not, you believe it." 
 Then with a sudden, swift motion she bared her 
 breast and laid the baby face against it, pressing 
 it close with such a look of passionate love and 
 agony, that Mrs. Knowles turned her head hastily 
 aside to hide her tears, and Marjorie drew a 
 quick, sobbing breath. The sound caught the 
 other girl's attention. She turned, and for the 
 first time became aware of Marjorie's presence. 
 
 "Who are you? What are you here for?" 
 she demanded, her voice harsh and her eyes full 
 of anger. 
 
 In an instant Marjorie was kneeling beside her. 
 " I'm here because I'm so sorry oh, so sorry 
 for you ! " she whispered pleadingly. 
 
 " Sorry ! " echoed the other fiercely. " Who 
 wants you to be sorry for me? I don't. What 
 do girls like you know about anything? Oh, 
 yes, you think you are ' sorry ' for me, but to 
 such as you I'm nothing but the scum of the 
 earth don't I know that? If I'd been watched 
 and cared for like you, mebbe I'd have been as 
 fine an' dainty an' innocent as you are to-day; 
 an' if you'd been in my shoes mebbe you wouldn't 
 have been a mite better'n I be." Then her eyes 
 fell again on the little white face at her breast, 
 and instantly the savage fire died out of them. 
 She put out her hand blindly and pushed Mar- 
 jorie roughly away from her. " Go away. Go
 
 196 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 away. What do I care for you anyhow when 
 my baby is gone my little, little baby? God! 
 How I loved her! Oh, how can I live without 
 her? How can I ever sleep again without her 
 dear little soft fingers creeping over my breast? 
 Oh, God oh, God!" 
 
 A long silence followed that wailing anguished 
 cry. Marjorie crept silently back to her corner. 
 Then soft and low so low that Marjorie had to 
 strain her ears to hear it, Mrs. Knowles' voice 
 broke the silence. She was praying, but it was 
 such prayer as Marjorie had never heard before. 
 It made her realise what was meant by " com- 
 munion with the Father." It was the appeal of a 
 child to the Father in whose love and wisdom 
 and power she had absolute faith. From that 
 hour the word " prayer " had a new meaning to 
 Marjorie Armstrong. 
 
 The mother sat as motionless as her dead child. 
 Did she hear and understand? They could not 
 tell, but at least she did not again break out into 
 passion and bitterness. 
 
 When an hour later Bryan returned, Mrs. 
 Knowles had prevailed upon the mother to lie 
 down beside her baby on the bed, and almost in- 
 stantly she had fallen into the deep sleep of utter 
 exhaustion. 
 
 " Thank God for that it may save her," Mrs. 
 Knowles whispered. " Now, Theodore, you 
 must take Marjorie home. I shall stay here till 
 morning. Don't worry about me I can doze in 
 this chair, but you'd better bring over some
 
 BELLA 197 
 
 breakfast in the morning. That poor girl must 
 eat." 
 
 So through the cold, silent, dimly-lighted 
 streets, Marjorie went with Theodore Bryan. 
 But few words passed between them, for the 
 thoughts of both were with the two they had 
 left. Such scenes were not new to Bryan he 
 had seen many; but Marjorie felt as if she 
 were in a new strange world, where joy and com- 
 fort were unknown terms. Even there, however, 
 there was love, pure and mighty enough to hold 
 a tempted soul from sin. 
 
 When Marjorie found herself alone in Mrs. 
 Knowles' rooms, she looked about her with a 
 little nervous shiver. It was the first time in her 
 life that she had been so alone at night. 
 
 " But I'm not alone either," she reminded her- 
 self. " There is Elizabeth and Duffer, and I 
 won't be a silly goose." 
 
 She went softly in and looked at Elizabeth 
 sound asleep in her little white bed, then feeling 
 very wide awake herself, she kindled a fire in the 
 living-room and drawing up a big chair sat down 
 before the hearth with Duffer curled up at her 
 feet. Her thoughts went back to that girl no 
 older than herself. The dark, passionate, grief- 
 ravaged face seemed to stare at her out of the 
 glowing logs she could not forget it. Was she 
 sleeping still, Marjorie wondered that heart- 
 broken young mother and what would she do 
 when the baby form was laid away out of her 
 sight?
 
 198 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 " Oh, dear," Marjorie sighed out once more 
 the question of the ages, " I wonder why there 
 has to be so much sorrow and trouble in the 
 world?" 
 
 She sat there thinking until the grey dawn be- 
 gan to drive away the night shadows, then, with 
 a shiver, she crept away to bed. But though she 
 was soon warm and comfortable under the soft 
 blankets, she could not sleep could not wrench 
 her thoughts away from that bare little upper 
 room where Mrs. Knowles was keeping watch 
 over the living and the dead. 
 
 She arose early and had a basket of hot food 
 ready when Theodore came for it. 
 
 " I want you to take this, too," she said, hold- 
 ing out a roll of bills, " to pay for the funeral. 
 And please have everything as pretty as you 
 can a little white casket and flowers. It may 
 help that poor girl just a little. And where is 
 the baby to be buried? " 
 
 " In one of the public cemeteries. The poor 
 have no choice," Bryan answered. But the girl 
 cried out in quick protest. 
 
 " No, no not in such a place ! I want it laid 
 in some spot that will be green and shady by- 
 and-by where the mother can go often. If 
 there isn't money enough there I will give more." 
 
 " Thank you, Miss Armstrong. I will see that 
 your wishes are carried out," Bryan answered; 
 and as he went away he was saying to himself, 
 " She is growing. She is beginning to think of 
 some one beside herself," and then he put reso-
 
 DELLA 199 
 
 lutely out of his mind the memory of the dark 
 eyes misty with tears that had just looked so 
 earnestly up into his. That it required a strong 
 effort to drive the memory of them out of his 
 mind, made him the more determined to do it. 
 
 All that day the young mother sat beside the 
 bed, her eyes wide and tearless, never leaving the 
 beautiful little face of her dead baby. No 
 persuasions could induce her to eat. To ques- 
 tions and arguments alike she turned a deaf ear. 
 But when, on the following day, the baby was 
 laid in the white casket with beautiful flowers 
 about her, the mother's face lost something of its 
 stony quiet, though still she spoke no word. 
 
 Marjorie Armstrong would never forget that 
 funeral in the bare, comfortless room, crowded 
 with women from the neighbouring tenements 
 women, most of them, gaunt and worn, with 
 shabby garments and broken shoes, with faces 
 hard and stolid or weak and discouraged. Some 
 of them held babies in their arms ; and about the 
 door crowded the older children of poverty, star- 
 ing with wide-eyed curiosity at the white casket 
 and the flowers at the rigid-faced mother, and 
 at the " folks from Green Tree House." 
 
 The brief service was led by the pastor of a 
 nearby mission church a man who knew all 
 about the homes and lives of the poor, and whose 
 big heart held boundless love and sympathy 
 for these hard-pressed souls. Marjorie's heart 
 swelled within her as she listened to his earnest, 
 tender words, but the mother sat all unheeding,
 
 200 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 her burning eyes never moving from her baby's 
 face. Only when at last they covered it and 
 lifted the little casket so very short and light it 
 was to carry it down to the street only then 
 did the mother move, following close with the 
 look of one walking in a dream of misery. 
 
 They put the little coffin in the carriage with 
 the mother and Mrs. Knowles, and Marjorie and 
 Bryan rode with the riiinister in a second. Not 
 a word was spoken in that first carriage until it 
 turned into the driveway at Forest Hills. Then 
 for the first time that day, the frozen quiet of 
 the young mother's face was stirred. She turned 
 quickly to the good woman at her side and cried 
 out: 
 
 "Oh, what does it mean? This isn't that 
 awful place where poor folks' children are put." 
 
 " No," Mrs. Knowles told her gently, " Miss 
 Armstrong wanted your baby laid here where 
 you can come often." 
 
 Delia Pruden's lips twitched, and her eyes 
 softened. 
 
 " If there's ever anything I can do for her, I'd 
 crawl on my knees to do it," she said, and then 
 she was silent again. 
 
 It was a lovely spot that had been chosen for 
 the tiny grave a spot that would be cool and 
 green and shady in the hot summer days. Even 
 now in her great misery, it comforted the mother 
 a little, and in the days to come, the tiny mound 
 under the old trees was to be the Mecca to which 
 her weary feet would carry her often, for rest,
 
 BELLA 201 
 
 for comfort, and for the gathering of fresh cour- 
 age for the hard battle of her life. 
 
 It was not at the door of the tenement that the 
 carriage stopped on its return to the crowded 
 city streets but before Green Tree House. The 
 white-faced mother stopped at the foot of the 
 steps and shook her head, but Mrs. Knowles 
 would take no refusal. 
 
 " Daughter," she said with gentle decision, 
 " you must stay with me to-night. To-morrow 
 you shall settle about the days that are before 
 you, but to-night I must rest, and you, too. 
 Come." 
 
 The girl yielded with evident reluctance, but 
 the hard lines about her mouth and the sombre 
 shadows in her eyes did not lighten. She obeyed 
 as one who bided her time, and Mrs. Knowles 
 shook her head sadly as she led the way into the 
 house. " The good Lord only knows how this 
 poor soul is to be held," she said to herself more 
 than once as she saw the misery in the face so 
 young, yet so plainly branded with the marks of 
 hard and sad experience.
 
 XII 
 
 THE SEED OF THE CRUSADE 
 
 FOR one day Mrs. Knowles succeeded in 
 keeping Delia Pruden. Strong as she 
 was, her days and nights of watching dur- 
 ing the baby's sickness, and her passionate re- 
 bellious grief over its loss, had exhausted her 
 body and spirit. But she was young, and the 
 brief rest restored her strength, and the second 
 morning found her restless and uneasy. She 
 talked little even to Mrs. Knowles to Marjorie 
 she would not talk at all. Her gratitude for what 
 the girl had done for her baby had withered 
 quickly as she realised Marjorie's all-unconscious 
 attitude towards her. The proud spirit of the 
 daughter of poverty resented fiercely the feeling 
 that the other girl all unconsciously revealed. 
 Marjorie was willing to help to give generously 
 but in her giving she reached down, not out 
 and Delia Pruden was not one of those who are 
 content to accept condescending kindness from 
 any one. She shut her heart and lips, and cast 
 dark glances at the girl who had everything that 
 she Delia Pruden had not, and Marjorie, not 
 understanding, perplexedly wondered over it. 
 The second morning after breakfast, Delia de- 
 202
 
 THE SEED OF THE CRUSADE 203 
 
 clared that she could stay no longer. " You've 
 been good to me," she said to Mrs. Knowles, 
 " but I've got to get to work. I can't stay idle 
 any longer. I " 
 
 She turned as the door flew open, and little 
 Annie Neal appeared on the threshold her face 
 white as chalk, her wide-open eyes full of a blind 
 terror. 
 
 " I've come for you," she cried out to Mrs. 
 Knowles, in a pitiful, choked voice. " Mummy 
 sent me. She's she's dying." 
 
 " Not your mother, Annie ! " Mrs. Knowles 
 exclaimed, putting her arms closely about the 
 little trembling figure. 
 
 Annie shook her head. " No, no ! " she sobbed 
 out, " not mummy it's Mis' Shanley. He 
 knocked her down her man did her 'n' the 
 baby, and mummy says they're goin' to die, and 
 won't you come quick ? " 
 
 " I'll go this minute," Mrs. Knowles replied. 
 " Marjorie, you keep Annie here. That is no 
 place for her." She added the last words in a 
 whisper. 
 
 Annie was quite willing to stay, and in two 
 minutes Mrs. Knowles was hurrying down the 
 steps. As she reached the sidewalk she found 
 Delia Pruden at her side. She nodded ap- 
 proval. 
 
 "Yes, you may be needed," she said quietly. 
 
 Delia's brows were drawn together in a black 
 frown. " It ain't the woman. She's nothing but 
 a rag that Shanley woman," she muttered be-
 
 204 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 tween her teeth, " but if the baby ain't dead " 
 
 She left the sentence unfinished, but Mrs. 
 Knowles understood. 
 
 About the door of the house they found a 
 group of idle men discussing the tragedy. 
 
 " Where is Shanley ? " Mrs. Knowles asked 
 one of them, and was told that he had been ar- 
 rested, and would be held for trial. 
 
 The two women went up the stairs to the 
 room where the Shanleys lived. In the dark, 
 narrow hallway, half a dozen frowsy women, 
 whispering with heads together, stared at the 
 newcomers, and silently made way for them to 
 pass, craning their necks to peer curiously into 
 the room as the door was opened. There were 
 two rooms. On one of the beds lay the woman, 
 a district nurse, in blue and white, leaning over 
 her. A second nurse was trying to quiet the 
 baby, whose monotonous wailing cry filled the 
 place. Only the oldest of the children, a girl of 
 thirteen, was there ; the others had been banished 
 to the streets that the rooms might be more 
 quiet. 
 
 Mrs. Knowles drew one of the nurses aside 
 and asked a few questions. 
 
 " There is no hope for the mother," she was 
 told. " The doctor has just gone to see about 
 getting her into the hospital where she'll have 
 better care than she could here; but it is 
 only a question of time, and probably a very 
 short time at that. It is concussion of the brain. 
 The baby may live we can't tell yet."
 
 THE SEED OF THE CRUSADE 205 
 
 " Poor little thing ! One might almost 
 
 hope " Mrs. Knowles said, and the nurse 
 
 nodded quick understanding. 
 
 " Yes, it seems as if it would be better, for it's 
 a sickly little creature anyhow." 
 
 As she spoke the wailing cry suddenly ceased, 
 and the two women turned to see Delia Pruden 
 holding the child to her breast. 
 
 "If anything will save the baby it will be that. 
 We haven't been able to make it take any food," 
 the nurse whispered, and Mrs. Knowles added 
 softly : 
 
 " And it may save that girl as well. Her own 
 baby was buried two days ago." 
 
 " It is strange, too," the nurse commented, 
 " for one of the women in the house tried to 
 feed the baby so, and could not." 
 
 Mrs. Knowles, watching the two, turned sud- 
 denly aside. The mingling of sorrow and pity 
 in Delia Pruden's strong face, as it bent over the 
 child in her arms, made the good woman's heart 
 ache with sympathy. 
 
 " It's the only way," she thought, " and it's the 
 old law of love. In giving to that wretched little 
 worse-than-orphaned creature, she may heal her 
 own sore heart. God grant it. At any rate it 
 will help her through these first hard, empty 
 days." 
 
 The woman on the bed lay motionless and 
 silent. " She has not moved or spoken since she 
 fell, her head hitting the stove," the nurse ex- 
 plained. " The ambulance is to come for her
 
 206 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 soon," and in fact, almost as she spoke the sharp 
 clang of its gong sounded from the street below, 
 and a few moments later the men came with" a 
 stretcher and carried the unconscious woman 
 away. 
 
 The oldest girl, her face swollen and discol- 
 oured with weeping, silently followed the 
 stretcher down to the street. There she found 
 the other three children among a throng that had 
 quickly gathered about the ambulance. There 
 had been little to nourish the growth of family 
 love in the starved lives of the little Shanleys. 
 The mother now being carried out of their sight 
 had given them iffs and harsh words far more 
 frequently than kind ones, but after all, she was 
 " mother," and to her children the world seemed 
 dark and desolate in this hour. So the common 
 loss and the common fear drew the children to- 
 gether, and the younger ones crowded close about 
 their sister, who put her arms around them as 
 they stood, a pitiful little group, gazing after the 
 ambulance as it drove off, its gong sounding a 
 warning through the narrow, dirty, swarming 
 streets. 
 
 " Kin we go up-stairs now, Jinny ? " one of the 
 little boys whispered, as the crowd rapidly dis- 
 solved, the children straggling off in search of 
 fresh excitement. 
 
 " Ye es, I guess so," Janie said, turning back 
 into the house, and presently the three sidled 
 doubtfully into what they called home. The 
 younger ones cast curious, frightened glances
 
 THE SEED OF THE CRUSADE 207 
 
 about the place of dreadful memories. Father in 
 prison, mother dead (they already so regarded 
 her), these strangers in authority here their 
 childish hearts were heavy with fear and dread. 
 But the big mother heart of Mrs. Knowles under- 
 stood, and she was quick to help. 
 
 " Have they had any breakfast the chil- 
 dren ? " she enquired, and one of the nurses re- 
 plied : 
 
 " Not here. We've had no chance to do any- 
 thing for them." 
 
 Janie volunteered the information that " Mis' 
 Fagan an' Mis' Nolan gave them something the 
 others I wasn't hungry," she;-,dded, and turned 
 her face aside, wiping her sleeve across her swol- 
 len eyes. 
 
 In an instant Mrs. Knowles' arms were around 
 the girl, as she whispered softly, " Poor child, 
 cry all you want to. I know how hard it has 
 been for you." 
 
 But the sight of Janie's tears had opened other 
 fountains, and as the younger children began to 
 whimper, she hastily drew away from the kind 
 arms that held her. " I I mustn't cry, you 
 know, 'cause if I do, they all will, and that'll dis- 
 turb m the baby," Janie said. She glanced 
 hastily at the little one lying still on Delia Pru- 
 den's bosom. " Is she goin' to die too the 
 baby?" she questioned fearfully. " Some of the 
 women down-stairs said she was I heard 'em 
 whisperin' about it. She's my baby I want to 
 hold her myself," she pleaded.
 
 208 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 " We can't tell yet, dear," Mrs. Knowles an- 
 swered gently, " but Delia and the nurse will take 
 care of the baby better care than you could, 
 even though you love her, and you can hold her 
 by-and-by. Now I want you and the children all 
 to go home with me. Your little brothers and 
 sister ought to have a good breakfast, you 
 know." 
 
 " They c'n go. I'm goin' to stay here," Janie 
 declared with decision. Deep in her heart she 
 was afraid to go afraid that if she should go 
 away, even this poor semblance of a home would 
 vanish, and the baby that she loved follow its 
 mother out into the unknown. 
 
 Mrs. Knowles, with her quick sympathy, 
 guessed something of what was in the child's 
 mind. " You must come or the little ones 
 won't," she urged, "but I promise you Janie, 
 that in a little while you shall come back here; 
 and no one is going to take the baby away before 
 we come back not at all, if she gets better." 
 
 "If she don't, I hope they'll hang father 
 dead!" Janie broke out in a sudden fierce pas- 
 sion of rage and despair. 
 
 Mrs. Knowles drew the hot, tear-stained little 
 face against her shoulder again, but she said 
 no word. Perhaps the yearning tenderness in 
 her eyes and her touch made stronger ap- 
 peal to the child than any spoken word could 
 have done, for after a moment Janie lifted her 
 flushed face and said, "If you promise that 
 they " she nodded towards Delia and the nurses
 
 THE SEED OF THE CRUSADE 209 
 
 " won't let the baby be took away while I'm 
 gone, I'll go with you, 'cause I know Susie an' 
 the boys are hungry. We didn't any of us have 
 
 much supper last night. Mother " she choked 
 
 suddenly on that word and could add no 
 other. 
 
 " I promise you, dear," Mrs. Knowles said, 
 and went across and spoke in a low tone to 
 Delia and the nurses. Then she returned to 
 the forlorn little group huddled about Janie. 
 " Come," she said, and catching up an old cape, 
 Janie led the way, and the others clattered after 
 her. 
 
 At the next landing, Mrs. Neal stopped Mrs. 
 Knowles to enquire where her Annie was. She 
 looked well content with the reply. 
 
 " I didn't worry 'cause I made sure you'd 
 keep her," she said. " The poor little thing was 
 scared 'most out of her senses over the awful 
 row up there this morning." She turned and 
 patted Janie's sharp shoulder kindly. " She's a 
 good girl is Janie," she added to Mrs. Knowles. 
 " Many's the time I've seen her roundin' up 
 these young ones out of the streets an' runnin' 
 errands for her mammy. The good Lord help 
 ye, child," she ended ; then as she turned back to 
 her own door, added, " Let Annie come home 
 with Janie, will ye, ma'am ? " 
 
 Mrs. Knowles nodded assent, as she went on 
 with the children. 
 
 Marjorie, reading by the fire, while Annie and 
 Elizabeth played by the window, looked up in
 
 210 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 quick dismay as Mrs. Knowles came in with the 
 four dirty, draggled, forlorn-looking children. 
 A whispered word from Mrs. Knowles made 
 her understand, but her sympathy for the 
 wretched little brood was marred by her dis- 
 gust at the idea of being near them or touching 
 them. 
 
 " Tell me what you want cooked and I'll do 
 that," she said, " while you get them ready." 
 
 And indeed they were sorely in need of " get- 
 ting ready " before they would be fit to sit 
 down at Mrs. Knowles' table. But, watching 
 Marjorie's face, Janie's own flushed hotly. She 
 had heard and understood, and clutching Susie's 
 hand, she turned and started swiftly towards 
 the door. Mrs. Knowles, however, was before 
 her. 
 
 "Dear," she whispered, "they'll relish their 
 breakfast better Susie and the boys after 
 they're brushed up a bit. Of course you've had 
 no chance to do anything for them this morn- 
 ing. You take Susie into this bathroom, and 
 I'll take the boys to the other. It won't take 
 long to wash their hands and faces and brush 
 their hair." She turned and added, " And, 
 Marjorie, if you'll set the table and scramble 
 some eggs, I guess you needn't cook anything 
 else. There's plenty of fresh bread and butter 
 and milk, and I filled the cooky jar yesterday." 
 
 Janie flung a defiant glance at the young lady 
 when the children were ready for their meal. 
 To her partial eyes, the clean faces and smooth
 
 THE SEED OF THE CRUSADE 211 
 
 heads left nothing to be desired, even if the 
 garments were in sore need of washing and 
 mending. Pug noses and freckles, and strag- 
 gling, tow-coloured hair, may not be prepossess- 
 ing on other people's children, but on your own, 
 if you are a " little mother " of three or four, it 
 is very different. 
 
 " And anyhow," said Janie defiantly, down in 
 the depths of her loyal little heart, " our baby's 
 real pretty so there ! " 
 
 She had it in her heart, had Janie, to eat no 
 mouthful, herself, of the food that the " proud " 
 young lady had made ready; but, poor child, 
 she was so hungry that she could not resist 
 when Mrs. Knowles heaped her plate so liber- 
 ally. And the world did not seem quite such 
 a dreary, hopeless place to her, when at last 
 the four left that bountiful table. 
 
 But now Janie was eager to be gone eager 
 to make sure that the baby had not been spirited 
 away in her absence; and she waited with scant 
 patience even while a basket was packed with 
 food for her to carry home. 
 
 "Tell Delia that I'll be over again before 
 bed-time," Mrs. Knowles said, " to see how the 
 baby is." 
 
 " Yes," returned Janie hastily. " Come, Susie 
 come, boys," and the four clumped noisily 
 across the hall to the door, but there Janie, re- 
 membering her " manners," looked back to call 
 " an' thank you, ma'am, for the breakfast 'n' 
 this," holding up the basket.
 
 212 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 From the window, Mrs. Knowles watched, 
 with pitying eyes, the four children hurrying 
 down the street, Janie urging on little Susie's 
 stumbling feet, and the two boys tagging at her 
 heels. 
 
 "What will become of them?" the good 
 woman sighed. " I suppose they'll have to be 
 put in some institution." 
 
 " Wouldn't they be just as well off as in such 
 a home as they have had? " Marjorie questioned. 
 
 Mrs. Knowles shook her head. " No, I think 
 even a poor mother is better than none. I don't 
 believe in institutions for children; they need 
 homes and mothering." 
 
 But she came back from the Shanleys' that 
 night with her face radiant. 
 
 "Marjorie, what do you think?" she cried 
 out. " Delia Pruden is going to stay with those 
 poor Shanley children and keep the home for 
 them. Isn't that splendid?" 
 
 " Do you mean support them ? But of course, 
 she couldn't do that five of them and one a 
 sick baby," Marjorie returned. 
 
 " But that is just what she has undertaken," 
 Mrs. Knowles declared, with shining eyes. 
 
 " Oh, but how can she ? " the girl said. " Just 
 to keep the house the rooms and get the meals 
 and look after them all, would be as much as 
 any girl could do. When would she have any 
 time to earn their living ? " 
 
 " Heaven knows. The poor do what they 
 have to do. But what a splendid thing the
 
 THE SEED OF THE CRUSADE 213 
 
 kindness of the poor to each other is, Marjorie! 
 Our giving of our surplus money and our spare 
 time looks small enough by contrast, does it 
 not?" 
 
 " Yes," replied the girl, in a low tone, " yes, 
 it does, indeed. But at least " there was a new 
 note of humility in her voice " at least we I 
 can help. I must help. That girl shall not 
 be left to carry such a load alone." 
 
 " Most surely not we'll help her, of course," 
 Mrs. Knowles answered heartily, " but I'm so 
 glad that she is willing to try to do it all her- 
 self. She can do fine laundry work, she says, 
 and sew between whiles. She has a machine 
 of her own, and has had work from one of the 
 stores, but it is very poorly paid. We must find 
 something better for her." 
 
 " She doesn't like me," Marjorie declared sud- 
 denly. " Do you know why ? " 
 
 Mrs. Knowles hesitated, before she answered, 
 " I can guess." 
 
 " Then tell me, please." 
 
 " You it won't please you to know the reason, 
 dear." 
 
 "That doesn't matter. I don't know that it 
 is necessary for me to be pleased, always. Tell 
 me," she repeated. 
 
 " I think it is because she feels that you hold 
 yourself aloof from her look down on her. 
 The poor are often quick to feel, and resent, that 
 attitude." 
 
 " But but how can I help it ? Such peo-
 
 214 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 pie are on a lower plane you know they are, 
 Mother Knowles." 
 
 " Do you consider Theodore on a lower plane 
 than say, than your cousin Teddy ? " 
 
 " Why, of " So far the girl had spoken, 
 
 when she stopped abruptly, a look of wonder 
 growing in her eyes, as the colour slowly deep- 
 ened in her cheeks. After a moment's silence 
 she looked up frankly. " A month ago I should 
 have said ' of course ' to that question, without a 
 moment's hesitation," she said slowly, " but 
 somehow my point of view seems to be chang- 
 ing. I believe I want to think of Theodore 
 Bryan as on a lower level than Teddy, or or I, 
 but I can't. Things look different to me lately. 
 I wonder if it is just the Green Tree House at- 
 mosphere. And I wonder how it will be when 
 I go home again," she added, half to herself. 
 
 " Perhaps it is partly the atmosphere of this 
 house. I don't see how any one can live in the 
 house with Theodore Bryan and fail to catch 
 something of the spirit that fills him. But I 
 think, as I told you before, dear child, that you 
 are being led. Are you willing to be led ? " 
 
 A rebellious flash leaped into the girl's eyes 
 as she flung back her head with a swift, impa- 
 tient motion. " I don't know I don't know! " 
 she cried. Then, " No, Mother Knowles, I don't 
 believe I am willing to be led in your way and 
 Theodore Bryan's not yet." 
 
 "Ah well, dear, there is no hurry. The 
 Father is very patient with us all," Mrs. Knowles
 
 THE SEED OF THE CRUSADE 215 
 
 returned, in her serene fashion. " And as to 
 Delia Pruden I think she is being led without 
 ever suspecting it. Here comes Theodore now." 
 
 She smiled a welcome as he entered, arid 
 Marjorie silently slipped back into a shadowy 
 corner. Mrs. Knowles began at once to speak 
 of Delia and the Shanley children. Bryan's face 
 lighted up in quick response. 
 
 " It will be a splendid thing for them all," he 
 said. " I shouldn't wonder if that little Janie 
 developed into something worth while now. 
 She's never had the ghost of a chance before. 
 We shall have to help them out, of course ; Delia 
 must not be left to carry the whole load. I 
 have just come from the hospital. Mrs. Shan- 
 ley is dead." 
 
 " And that will mean, for the man ? " Mrs. 
 
 Knowles questioned. 
 
 " That depends. Boss Brady will doubtless 
 try to get him off with a light sentence, or none 
 at all." Bryan's eyes darkened. " Politics has 
 much to do with justice or injustice in these 
 days. But there is one sure thing, Mr. Henry 
 will have some plain truths to say at Mrs. Shan- 
 ley's funeral. It is to be on Sunday afternoon, 
 in the Mission Chapel, and Mother Knowles " 
 he leaned forward, his face eager and earnest 
 "I'm going to have my boys there the club 
 boys, and as many from Sabin Street as I can 
 get together. This woman's death was due 
 simply and solely to liquor; and Henry is going 
 to state that fact so plainly and impressively,
 
 216 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 that the boys cannot well miss the full force 
 of it. Then next week I mean to take 
 some of the older boys, the leaders, through 
 the Home for Inebriates. I've been there, 
 and the sights I saw the pitiful, shame- 
 ful wrecks of humanity haunted my memory 
 for months. I want them to haunt my boys the 
 same way. I want to burn into their very souls 
 what drink does to men, and to their wives and 
 children. Then, Mother Knowles, I mean to 
 start those boys on a ' No Liquor ' crusade. 
 This neighbourhood has got to be cleaned up. 
 The saloons must be wiped out. Then our boys 
 and girls will have a chance, the chance that 
 God meant them to have. They don't have it 
 now." 
 
 Mrs. Knowles had listened with the deepest 
 interest. 
 
 " What a wonderful difference it would make 
 if we could get rid of all the saloons, even on 
 this street; but I suppose then the men would 
 just go a little further for their drink," she added 
 sorrowfully. 
 
 " Many of them would, of course," Bryan 
 assented, " but some would drink much less and 
 some would leave it alone altogether, if they 
 were not tempted at every corner. And the 
 boys if we could only train up this one gen- 
 eration of boys without this curse to steal away 
 their senses and brutalise their very souls, just 
 think what it would mean! What it would 
 mean in their poor homes they wouldn't be so
 
 THE SEED OF THE CRUSADE 217 
 
 poor then and in civic matters and politics. 
 Why " his plain face flushed with earnestness 
 " why, Mother Knowles, if we could only 
 keep our club boys and those that we are now 
 reaching, here in this house keep them from 
 liquor and the vices that follow in its train 
 we could revolutionise this quarter of the town 
 at least. If they could only realise their power 
 for good ! " 
 
 " Well " Mrs. Knowles drew a long breath 
 "you are sowing the good seed steadily, Theo- 
 dore. Some of it surely must spring up and 
 bear fruit." 
 
 " Yes, some, I hope," he answered, a little 
 shadow of discouragement in his eyes now, 
 " but oh, so much of it seems to be lost on the 
 stony ground." 
 
 Two days after Mrs. Shanley's funeral, Bryan 
 took ten of the boys to the Home for Inebriates. 
 " I want to show you, boys, just what liquor 
 does to men in the end," he said as they drew 
 near the place, and the vague curiosity in the 
 young faces changed to gravity and horror as 
 the lads followed him from room to room. They 
 were yet more grave when they came out, and 
 very silent. Two of them were white and shak- 
 ing, and the youngest of the ten, a boy whose 
 father was seldom sober suddenly flung his arm 
 over his eyes and broke into convulsive sobs. 
 Usually that would have been the signal for a 
 storm of jeers and taunts from the others, but 
 no one ventured anything of the sort now., and
 
 218 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 Bryan put his arm kindly over the boy's shoul- 
 ders as they went on. 
 
 " I know how you feel, Billy," he said quietly. 
 " When I came to this place once before, I went 
 home and cried like a baby, and it was weeks 
 before I could get over what I had seen. I 
 hated to bring you boys here to-day, but I felt 
 that you must see for yourselves what liquor 
 does. We won't talk about it now, but this 
 evening I want you all to come to the fire room, 
 and we'll see what we can do to keep ourselves 
 and others from ever going to a place like that 
 we've just left." 
 
 The ten were all gathered about the glow- 
 ing logs that evening, with a dozen or more other 
 boys, mostly from Sabin Street. Bryan had se- 
 lected his guests very carefully for this oc- 
 casion, inviting only those who in one way or 
 another had influence among their companions. 
 Mack was there, his blue eyes not twinkling 
 with mischief as usual, and Tom Brown and 
 Tony Trudo. Jim, Bryan had not asked, al- 
 though he wanted him, but he was afraid of get- 
 ting the boy into trouble, since Jim's father had 
 forbidden him to go to Green Tree House for 
 any purpose. 
 
 " Boys," Bryan began, when they were all 
 seated before the crackling logs, " you've seen 
 this week what drink does. You've seen a 
 woman killed by it, a man in prison, and five 
 little children left alone in the world. Young 
 as you are, you've all known many things of
 
 THE SEED OF THE CRUSADE 219 
 
 this sort before. And to-day, some of you have 
 seen men who are loathsome wrecks of man- 
 hood all because of liquor. 
 
 " You know how hard it is in these days for 
 men who drink to get good jobs or keep them. 
 Such men are no longer wanted in mills, or 
 factories, or railroad work. Even those who 
 drink but little, are the first to be turned off in 
 slack times I don't need to tell you that. You 
 know, too, that the saloons are all the time reach- 
 ing out after boys like you because the men 
 who drink will soon be in their graves, or in 
 prison, or in the poorhouse, or where we went 
 to-day. Within two squares of this house there 
 are nine saloons open to-night." He paused 
 the boys were listening with earnest eyes, and 
 only the crackling of the fire broke the silence, 
 till Bryan added slowly, " What are we going 
 to do about all this you and If" 
 
 " What can we do, brother ? " It was Tom 
 Brown who spoke. 
 
 Bryan flashed a smile at him. " That's good. 
 I like you to call me that. I am just that 
 your big brother, and I'm here among you to 
 lend a hand whenever and wherever I can. 
 What can we do about it ? " His eyes flashed 
 and his voice rang out, " We can clear out the 
 saloons. We can clean up this whole neigh- 
 bourhood and make Sabin Street a decent 
 place for the men, women, and children who 
 live on it that's what we can do you and I, 
 boys!"
 
 220 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 " How ? Tell us how," Tom and another 
 boy cried out in one breath ; and the second boy 
 was Black Jim, who had slipped quietly into the 
 room while Bryan was speaking. 
 
 " We can do it," Bryan told them, speaking 
 slowly now, but with a note in his voice that 
 thrilled their hearts, " we can do it if we are, 
 every one of us, in dead earnest; if we are 
 determined that we will do it, no matter how 
 long it takes or how hard the fight we 
 can do it if we join hands and pull all to- 
 gether. It won't be play, boys. There will be 
 those in your own homes that will oppose you 
 bitterly, some of you you know that " Jim's 
 lips set in hard lines and he clenched his right 
 hand on his knee " The saloon-keepers will 
 fight you, with plenty of money behind them, and 
 Boss Brady will fight you. It will be a hard 
 tussle, I warn you, but " he leaned forward, 
 his eyes glowing " but, boys, we shall have 
 God and the right on our side and we can't be 
 beaten, if only you stand fast." 
 
 There was a moment's silence as Bryan 
 ceased ; then Black Jim arose and, crossing over, 
 stood beside him, facing the boys. In his dark 
 countenance they saw something they had never 
 seen there before, something that filled them with 
 wonder, as he said, speaking clearly and dis- 
 tinctly, " I'm with you to the end, brother." 
 
 Instantly Bryan grasped the boy's hand and 
 wrung it hard, while over Jim's face a slow 
 flush swept. And then a big freckled paw was
 
 THE SEED OF THE CRUSADE 221 
 
 pushed roughly forward, and Mack was crying 
 out: 
 
 "Me too, brother I'm wid ye till the last 
 bottle's broke." 
 
 They all crowded forward after that not one 
 was willing to be left out; though, before he 
 would let them pledge themselves, Bryan made 
 very clear and plain to them the kind of op- 
 position they would surely have to face. One 
 or two drew back and hesitated a little, think- 
 ing it all over, but in the end every boy was 
 pledged. 
 
 As Bryan stood there in the glow of the fire- 
 light, his eyes shining, his face showing how 
 deeply he was stirred by his joy and pride in 
 these "little brothers" of his, Teddy Marston 
 and Bennie Hoyt came quietly in from the 
 other room and joined the group. 
 
 " I think you'll have to count me into this too, 
 Bryan," the former said. "If there's any fight- 
 ing to be done, I want a share." 
 
 " And I," added Bennie quietly, his hand rest- 
 ing for a moment on Bryan's shoulder. 
 
 Bryan looked at them, and from them to the 
 boys, and for a moment he could not speak; 
 then he said and his voice was not quite 
 steady "Boys, if you all stand fast, we 
 will make old Boston proud of Sabin Street 
 yet." 
 
 Then they sat down and planned the campaign. 
 Each of the boys was to try to secure one other, 
 and he to bring in yet another, until every boy in
 
 222 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 the neighbourhood who could be trusted to keep 
 his pledge should be pledged for this campaign. 
 And the fathers who did not frequent the saloons 
 their number, alas, was small! were to be 
 induced, if possible, to help. 
 
 " Boys." Marston said, an hour later, as Bryan 
 was handing around hot coffee and sandwiches, 
 " what would you say to a recreation-place here 
 on Sabin Street, with gardens and benches, where 
 your mothers could bring the babies, a big sand- 
 pile and swings for the little kids, and a gym- 
 nasium, and swimming-pool, and ball-ground 
 for you big chaps? How would you like 
 that?" 
 
 But this was too much for Sabin Street 
 imaginations to grasp. 
 
 " Aw, what ye givin' us ? " one cried out in 
 a tone of intense disgust. 
 
 " Couldn't ye put in a picture-gall'ry an' some 
 marble figgers, while ye're about it ? " was the 
 sarcastic query of another. 
 
 " Maybe, sometime who knows ? " returned 
 Marston composedly. " But the recreation-place 
 isn't so far off. Listen, lads. I happen to know 
 that there's a plan on foot to establish half a 
 dozen such places in the poorer parts of the 
 city ; and it seems to me that Sabin Street would 
 like one as well as any other street, eh ? " 
 
 " Likin' ain't gittin' ! " declared a sober-faced 
 boy, with quiet emphasis. 
 
 " No, but I believe I'm not yet quite sure, 
 but I think that, if you boys stick to your guns,
 
 THE SEED OF THE CRUSADE 
 
 and clean up this neighbourhood as you have 
 been planning to do clear out the saloons and 
 every other den in the street I surely think 
 that one of those parks will come this way. At 
 least, I know a man who is ready to give ten 
 thousand dollars towards it." 
 
 One boy gave a shrill whistle. Another drew 
 in his breath with a gurgle of delight. 
 
 " A gym. 'n' a swimmin'-pool," cried another. 
 "Oh, gee whiz!" and he nudged the boy next 
 to him ecstatically. 
 
 " It's for you to say, boys, what kind of a 
 place you will live in, you see," Bryan added. 
 " Think a minute " his swift glance flashed 
 from face to face " Jack Kelly, you are the 
 youngest boy here, I think. How old are you ? T ' 
 
 " Coin' on fourteen," was the prompt reply. 
 
 Bryan nodded. " And some of you are two 
 or three years older than Jack. Don't you see 
 in from four to seven years, every one of you 
 will be a man an American citizen, with the 
 right to vote? I want you in these years to 
 learn how to vote right; and meantime, I mean 
 that you shall find out prove that American 
 boys do not have to wait till they are twenty-one 
 to have a hand in civic matters in what con- 
 cerns the public good. You can be the best 
 kind of American citizens right now. You can 
 honour that ! " He pointed to the stars and 
 stripes above the mantelpiece. 
 
 "Hurrah for us!" shouted Jack Kelly, his 
 excitable spirit stirred to the point where a
 
 224 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 yell was an absolute necessity to him, and a 
 burst of laughter relieved the strain. 
 
 " But what'll we do wid the rest of the gang 
 the bad ones ? " another boy questioned 
 anxiously, when they were quiet again. 
 
 " There aren't any bad ones " Bryan's answer 
 was quick. " The bad is only on the surface 
 in all you fellows you're sound and good un- 
 derneath. Look here you all know how easy 
 it is for one boy to lead others into mischief. 
 Well, it's just the same the other way about. 
 Goodness manliness clean honest manliness is 
 just as ' catching ' as the other thing. You try 
 it and see if that isn't true. Every boy of you 
 that lives up to the best he knows is helping 
 other fellows up instead of down don't you 
 forget that." 
 
 But his quick eyes saw that the boys had seen, 
 and heard, and felt as much as was good for one 
 day, so when the coffee and sandwiches had 
 disappeared, he sent them away, and they went 
 out into the night, heads lifted and shoulders 
 squared, as they swung along through the dark 
 street conscious, as never before, of the power 
 that was in them. Only Jim slipped away at the 
 first corner and went on alone. He was among 
 the oldest of the boys, and realised, as perhaps 
 none of the others did, what was before them 
 before him especially ; for well he knew that his 
 father was one of those who would fight to the 
 bitter end for the saloons and all that the saloons 
 stood for and Jim knew his father. Yet not
 
 THE SEED OF THE CRUSADE 225 
 
 for a moment did his resolution waver. Some- 
 thing in the boy had flamed in quick response 
 to Bryan's words that night; henceforth, where 
 Bryan led, Jim would follow without question, 
 for he believed in his leader believed in him 
 with a blind, silent devotion that nothing could 
 shake.
 
 XIII 
 MARJORIE'S CALL TO SERVICE 
 
 " "VEAR, dear," sighed Mrs. Knowles, com- 
 M ing into the kitchen where Marjorie, 
 
 -" ^ looking bewitchingly pretty in a ruf- 
 fled apron of pink and white gingham, was 
 making a fresh supply of seed-cakes for the 
 " cooky-jar," " what will Delia Pruden do now ? 
 The two little Shanley boys are down with scar- 
 let fever. If I could get anybody to stay here 
 with you, I'd go right over there and help her 
 nurse them." 
 
 Marjorie stood with egg-beater in her hand, 
 considering. 
 
 "You needn't bother about me," she said 
 slowly. " I could go home, you know, but what 
 would you do with Elizabeth and Duffer?" 
 
 " Theo would take care of Duffer or the 
 Crums would though it would be a trial to 
 him to stay with them, for he doesn't seem to 
 like the old lady " 
 
 " Or her pink slumber slippers," laughed 
 Marjorie. 
 
 Mrs. Knowles smiled in an absent-minded 
 fashion, and went on, " But I shouldn't like to 
 leave Elizabeth with them." 
 226
 
 MARJORIE'S CALL TO SERVICE 227 
 
 " Leave her here then, and I'll stay and take 
 care of her and Duffer both," said the girl. 
 
 Mrs. Knowles considered that with manifest 
 doubt. " I'm afraid you'd find it too lonely, 
 child," she said, shaking her head, " and too hard. 
 Elizabeth would be sure to have one of her 
 tantrums every other thing, and I must admit 
 that she is a trial when she has them. Besides, 
 if you were here, the girls and their mothers 
 would keep running in. They're so used to it 
 now that they can't seem to keep away." 
 
 " We-ell maybe I could stand it. Anyhow 
 I can try it for a while, and see. If I find the 
 strain too great, I can always run away from it 
 all and go home. If I should turn coward and 
 do that, Mother Knowles and I'm awfully 
 afraid I shall, you know I'd take Elizabeth with 
 me. I guess I could stand her ' tantrums ' ; and 
 maybe she wouldn't have them, or at any rate, 
 not so many of them at home with me." 
 
 " Maybe not, poor little thing ! Well, then " 
 
 As Mrs. Knowles talked she was gathering into 
 a suitcase the things she wanted to take with 
 her. Mar j one had followed her into the bed- 
 room, the egg-beater still in her hand. Mrs. 
 Knowles went on: "When she's so trying" 
 meaning Elizabeth " I try to remember what 
 a poor chance she's had. I guess, from what 
 her grandmother let drop, that the father 
 and mother were both pretty poor speci- 
 mens of humanity, so how could Elizabeth be 
 any better than she is? But there's a warm
 
 228 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 heart under all her hot temper and contrari- 
 ness, and as Theo would say " the kind voice 
 melted into tender reverence " the Image is 
 there, and it will shine out after a while." 
 
 " Mother Knowles " Marjorie started for- 
 ward impulsively and laid her hands lightly on the 
 broad shoulders of the older woman, her voice 
 sinking to a wistful whisper "how about me? 
 I have had ' chances,' but I'm not good. I have 
 worse tantrums than any poor little Elizabeth 
 has, though maybe I manage to keep them in- 
 side most times. Do you think tell me truly, 
 Mother Knowles, do you think that anybody 
 can ever get down under all the rubbish, and 
 find that Image in me?" 
 
 The strong motherly arms held the girl close, 
 as Mrs. Knowles answered, " Never doubt it, 
 dear child, never doubt it for a moment. I've 
 seen it shining out in you many a time already. 
 I guess there isn't so very much rubbish to 
 clear away, dear! " She kissed one flushed 
 cheek, then let the girl go. " There, I believe I 
 have everything. Poor Delia, I couldn't leave 
 her there with three sick children the baby 
 alone is care enough. Now, if you really think 
 you can get along here, I shall be glad to have 
 you, but mind, if you find it too hard or too 
 lonely, you are to take Elizabeth and go home. 
 You promise that you will ? " 
 
 "Yes, if I find it too hard, I will and I 
 really expect I shall. It would be just like 
 me." Then Marjorie laid her fair cheek gently
 
 MARJORIE'S CALL TO SERVICE 229 
 
 against the soft wrinkled face of the other. 
 " Do take good care of yourself, and don't 
 get too tired," she urged. "You know I'll 
 be glad to send a nurse there, if you'll 
 let me." 
 
 " I will, if I find that I'm getting worn out, I 
 promise you that, child," Mrs. Knowles re- 
 plied. " I know Theo will be over there every 
 day or two, and I can send you word through 
 him." 
 
 "The Mr. Bryan?" the girl cried quickly. 
 "Why should he go there?" 
 
 " Why should he go anywhere and every- 
 where where there is sickness and trouble ? " 
 Mrs. Knowles returned. " He gives a thousand 
 times more than money love, and sympathy, and 
 hope, and courage, and little thoughtful kind- 
 nesses. He heartens up the poor souls that are 
 ground down to despair by years of poverty and 
 all sorts of troubles and sin. God was very 
 good to Sabin Street when he sent Theodore 
 Bryan here." 
 
 " But," Marjorie protested, " how can he go 
 there now, when there is scarlet fever? It isn't 
 safe, is it for him, or for the boys that come 
 here?" 
 
 " >: Oh, he'll take no risks he won't go in 
 where the fever is. He wouldn't be afraid for 
 himself, but he would for his boys. But he'll 
 manage somehow to keep in touch with us, you'll 
 see. Now good-bye, dear child. Tell Elizabeth 
 good-bye for me, when she comes home from
 
 230 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 school, and tell her I know she is going to be 
 my good girl till I get back." 
 
 " I'll tell her. Good-bye," Marjorie answered, 
 and followed to the door to call good-bye again ; 
 and then went back, and from the window 
 watched the stout figure go briskly down the 
 street. 
 
 A long, long time Marjorie stood there think- 
 ing grave and troubled thoughts they must 
 have been, judging from the shadowed eyes and 
 serious mouth. The clock striking twelve 
 startled her. In a few minutes Elizabeth would 
 be home, clamouring for her dinner. 
 
 Elizabeth" came breezily in, crying out, 
 " Where's Mother Knowles ? I want Mother 
 Knowles." 
 
 When she learned where Mother Knowles 
 was, and that she might be away for several 
 weeks, Elizabeth manifested strong symptoms 
 of a " tantrum " ; the symptoms being a black 
 scowl, drooping mouth-corners, and a disposition 
 to sulk. But when Marjorie gave her Mother 
 Knowles' message, the scowl began slowly to 
 lighten, and a little later the drooping mouth- 
 corners lifted a trifle. Finally Elizabeth put her 
 hands behind her and faced Marjorie, her hard 
 black eyes never wavering as she declared: 
 
 " I ain't promisin' that I'll keep on bein' good 
 if she stays long with them Shanleys, but mebbe 
 I will, just to-day. Anyhow," she added, " I'm 
 glad it's the Shanley boys that have got the 
 fever, 'stead o' Janie. They're no good anyhow
 
 MARJORIE'S CALL TO SERVICE 231 
 
 them boys! I don't like 'em," and having 
 thus expressed her opinion, she condescended to 
 eat her dinner; but she did it with a distinct 
 air of doing a favour to Marjorie. 
 
 " You and I are to keep house while Mother 
 Knowles is gone, you know," Marjorie told her, 
 when Elizabeth came back from school at four 
 o'clock. 
 
 Elizabeth considered in silence for a moment, 
 then she enquired, " What'm I to do ? " clip- 
 ping her words with the air of a snapping 
 terrier. 
 
 " Don't you want to help me set the table, and 
 maybe wipe the dishes?" 
 
 " I dunno's I do." Elizabeth's tone was 
 defiant. 
 
 " Oh, well, just as you please. I can do it all, 
 of course, but sometimes I get tired. It takes 
 a great deal of time to do the cooking and all, 
 and keep the rooms as nice as Mrs. Knowles 
 keeps them." 
 
 " Bet you won't ! " taunted the child, with an 
 irritating little laugh. " You don't know how as 
 Mother Knowles does. You don't cook nice as 
 she does neither. Your biscuits ain't near so 
 good as hers." This with an air of triumph. 
 
 Marjorie's cheeks flushed and she was vexed 
 with herself, because she could not prevent their 
 doing so. Elizabeth, keen-eyed as any hawk, 
 saw a nd her triumph increased. When Mar- 
 jorie said stiffly, " That will do, Elizabeth," the 
 child fairly glowed with impish delight.
 
 232 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 " That fetched her ! " she whispered in Duffer's 
 ear, flinging herself down beside him on the 
 floor. " She thinks 'cause she's rich 'n' V 
 awful pretty " a stubborn honesty forced the 
 child to make this admission, though she did it 
 grudgingly even to herself " that I'm goin' to let 
 her boss me, but I just guess she'll find out! 
 Mother Knowles can boss me 'f she wants to, 
 'n' big brother can, an' well, mebbe a little 
 sometimes, Teddy Marston, but nobody else ain't 
 a-goin' to do it no, sir-ee ! " 
 
 But rather to Elizabeth's disappointment for 
 conflict was the joy of her soul Marjorie did 
 not try to " boss " her. She only said quietly, 
 " Very well, Elizabeth, do just as you please. 
 I shan't tell Mrs. Knowles, of course, but you'll 
 have to tell her yourself, when she comes back, 
 whether you've been good or not." 
 
 After supper Elizabeth remained on the rug 
 before the fire, hugging Duffer's homely, yellow- 
 brown head under her arm, while Marjorie 
 washed the dishes. Elizabeth was having a 
 fierce battle with her conscience for she had 
 a conscience, and it gave her a deal of trouble 
 sometimes. It was the victor on this occasion, 
 and forced the child at last to spring up and go to 
 the kitchen, where she snatched up a towel and 
 began wiping the silver with a vigour out of all 
 proportion to the needs of the case. 
 
 "I could wash 'n' wipe 'em both," she re- 
 marked, with a toss of her head, as she dumped 
 the spoons in the drawer.
 
 " Thank you, Elizabeth," Marjorie said gently. 
 To tell the truth she was actually in dread of 
 one of the child's tantrums " for I shouldn't 
 know what in the world to do with her if she 
 should have one," she acknowledged to herself; 
 and it seemed to her that Elizabeth read her 
 thoughts and exulted over her trepidation, there 
 was such an uncanny gleam in the black eyes 
 such a taunting tilt to the little sharp chin. 
 
 "What shall I do with her this evening?" 
 Marjorie was asking herself later, when, to her 
 relief, her cousin appeared. 
 
 "Well, Marjie," he greeted her, "I've just 
 found out that you are the sole survivor al- 
 ways excepting Elizabeth " he nodded gaily to 
 the child " and Duffer. How does it go kind 
 of lonesome ? " 
 
 " No-o, not yet," Marjorie hesitated, " I've 
 hardly had time yet to be lonesome." 
 
 " She's goin' to be though," Elizabeth put in, 
 " when I'm to school." She flung a malicious 
 grin over her shoulder at the girl. 
 
 " H-m," was Teddy's comment to Elizabeth ; 
 then to his cousin, " Why don't you pack up and 
 go home, Marjorie?" 
 
 Elizabeth craned her neck and pricked up her 
 ears to catch the answer. It was slow in coming. 
 
 " Maybe I shall, Teddy I don't know yet. 
 Maybe I may feel that it's my chance." 
 
 "Chance for what?" 
 
 " Oh for several things. I can't explain 
 now."
 
 234 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 " 'Cause she don't want me to hear," Elizabeth 
 whispered in Teddy's ear, having edged around 
 behind his chair. 
 
 "Well, of course, you'll suit yourself; but I 
 should think this was a first-class chance for 
 you to run home and get a change of air and 
 surroundings," Teddy said. His eyes, study- 
 ing Marjorie's face as she gazed thoughtfully 
 into the fire, noted a new expression there. It 
 baffled him, and aroused his curiosity. Mar- 
 jorie did not reply, and after a little silence, he 
 remarked : 
 
 " They seem t6 be having a pretty bad time 
 with the fever down there where the Shanleys 
 live." 
 
 Marjorie looked up quickly. " Are there 
 others sick with it besides the Shanley boys ? " 
 
 " Yes, indeed, half a dozen cases in the same 
 old tenements. The whole place is in quaran- 
 tine, and several other tenement houses in that 
 neighbourhood. The district nurses will have 
 their hands full." 
 
 " Is money needed, Teddy ? " 
 
 " Money is always needed." Marston frowned 
 and shook his head impatiently. " It's like pour- 
 ing water into a sieve, though you may keep 
 on giving money, or giving yourself as Bryan 
 is doing and though you help a little, here and 
 there, the sum-total of misery seems never to 
 be lessened one iota." 
 
 The girl nodded. "That's the way it seems 
 to me, Teddy. And sometimes " she searched
 
 MARJORIE'S CALL TO SERVICE 235 
 
 his face with earnest eyes " sometimes it all 
 seems to me useless. I mean for people like 
 him Bryan to give their lives to such work. 
 Does it pay, Teddy truly, do you think it 
 does?" 
 
 " Bryan would tell you that it does, without 
 a moment's hesitation. And, Marjorie, when I 
 think of individual cases, I know it does, myself. 
 It is marvellous, the way he is getting hold of 
 these boys fairly putting a new spirit into them. 
 I tell you " Teddy leaned forward, speaking 
 eagerly " some of these chaps would go through 
 fire and water now for Theodore Bryan. 
 Pshaw! Of course it pays. Who can doubt 
 it?" 
 
 " And do you believe, Teddy, that they will 
 succeed in cleaning up this dreadful neighbour- 
 hood and driving out the saloons? Do you 
 really believe they can do it ? " 
 
 " I shouldn't believe it if anybody but Theo- 
 dore Bryan had undertaken the job; but, Mar- 
 jorie, there's no denying the fact that things 
 always do seem to go his way in the end. You 
 know," he added slowly, " he claims that it 
 isn't his way and that that is the reason of his 
 success." 
 
 "He says God does it. D'you b'lieve that?" 
 Elizabeth had been sitting in a sort of mouse- 
 like, quivering quiet, only her bright black eyes 
 flashing from one speaker to the other as the 
 talk went on, till now suddenly she flung out 
 this statement and question. " Say do you be-
 
 236 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 lieve it honest?" she repeated, the black eyes 
 keen and unflinching, as if they would probe the 
 young man's very soul. 
 
 He looked at the child for a moment in silence, 
 before he answered, slowly and gravely, as 
 if she had been a grown person, " Yes, Eliza- 
 beth, I believe it," and he added, turning again 
 to his cousin, " and if he cleans up Sabin Street, 
 as he plans, I think a great many other people 
 will believe it too." 
 
 " Huh ! " Elizabeth grunted, and said no more ; 
 and presently she slipped away to bed. 
 
 At breakfast the next morning she demanded, 
 with a spice of malice in her dark eyes, " Which 
 ye goin' to do, Miss Marjorie stick it out till 
 Mother Knowles comes back, or cut 'n' run?" 
 
 Marjorie shook her head. " I don't know yet, 
 Elizabeth it depends." 
 
 " Depends on what me ? " 
 
 " Oh, no," Marjorie laughed, " you are only 
 one little girl. It depends on much bigger things 
 and people than you." 
 
 " Huh ! " the child muttered doubtfully. To 
 herself, her small personality loomed so large, 
 that she really found difficulty in believing that 
 she counted for little to Marjorie. 
 
 " I dunno's I like her much," Elizabeth told 
 herself as she trudged off to school, " but I do 
 like to see those little holes come in her cheeks 
 when she laughs. 'F I was pretty like her, 
 mebbe I wouldn't be so hateful's I be now, 
 sometimes," the little unconscious beauty-wor-
 
 MARJORIE'S CALL TO SERVICE 237 
 
 shipper added, with a long breath. " An' if she 
 liked me, truly but she don't, 'n' I don't care 
 so there ! " And tossing aside the thoughts that 
 made her vaguely uncomfortable, she went 
 briskly on her way. 
 
 As for Marjorie, she soon began to find the 
 household cares, even for only two, something 
 of a burden. With the planning of the three 
 meals a day, the marketing and cooking, the 
 table-setting and dish-washing, sweeping and 
 dusting, she found her time filled, and found 
 herself unaccountably tired. It was so different 
 from sharing the work with Mrs. Knowles, 
 whose swift experienced hands seemed to ac- 
 complish so much with so little effort. And 
 then there were so many interruptions. There 
 was scarcely an hour in the day when some 
 woman or child did not come in search of the 
 big-hearted " mother " of Green Tree House. 
 Marjorie was at first amused, and finally very 
 sober and thoughtful as she was forced to see 
 for how little she counted in the estimation of 
 these Sabin Street people. In her own world 
 she was used to count for a great deal, but here 
 " They care more for Mother Knowles' little 
 finger than for a dozen useless creatures like me," 
 she told herself. 
 
 She had taken up a garment of Elizabeth's 
 that needed mending if there was a nail any- 
 where it always seemed to jump at Elizabeth 
 when there came a low tap at the door. Open- 
 ing it, she found there a woman with one baby
 
 288 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 in her arms and another barely old enough to 
 walk, that she held by the hand. 
 
 " Come in, won't you ? " Mar jorie tried to give 
 the invitation cordially, but her heart sank as 
 she looked into the woman's face with its weak 
 mouth and hard eyes. Unconsciously she swept 
 her skirts aside, lest the faded blue alpaca dress, 
 splotched with mud and dotted with grease spots, 
 should rub against her. The children with their 
 narrow foreheads, red-rimmed, pale blue eyes, 
 and loose-lipped mouths specimens of the low- 
 est and most hopeless type of tenement-house 
 life made the girl shudder. She drew forward 
 a chair, and the woman dropped into it with a 
 breath of relief. 
 
 " I do get so tired luggin' one of 'em and 
 yankin' the other along," she said, and Marjorie 
 felt a faint stirring of sympathy in her heart. 
 The woman did look tired. 
 
 " I'll make you a cup of tea while you rest," 
 she said. When she returned from the kitchen 
 with the tea and some cookies, the woman's hag- 
 gard face brightened. 
 
 " I wonder sometimes how we ever got along 
 here on Sabin Street before Mother Knowles 
 came to Green Tree House," she said. " Many's 
 the nice hot cup like this she's given me." She 
 thrust a cooky into the hand of each child, then 
 sipped her tea slowly, evidently prolonging the 
 enjoyment of it as much as possible. But when 
 cup and plate were empty she was ready to talk. 
 
 " I didn't know till I was 'most here that
 
 MARJORIE'S CALL TO SERVICE 239 
 
 Mother Knowles was down nursin' them Shan- 
 ley kids," she began. " I'm sorry she ain't here, 
 for I wanted to talk with her about my Maggie. 
 I dunno "she eyed Marjorie doubtfully " I 
 guess you ain't likely to know much about such 
 girls as Maggie. She's fifteen the oldest of 
 eight an' she's one o' them takin' kind o' girls' 
 that gets too much notice for their own good. 
 The's a young feller goin' with her, an' he's 
 crazy to be married right away, but I tell Maggie 
 she's too young she better wait three or four 
 years. But I dunno if I go against it too 
 strong, I'm afraid she'll run away with him an' 
 mebbe not get married at all girls like that are 
 such crazy fools, you know. Her father, he 
 hates Joe Veery that's the feller's name an' he 
 goes on so at Maggie that I'm scared sometimes 
 he'll drive her out on the street, or she'll go her- 
 self to get away from his naggin'. I thought 
 mebbe Mother Knowles would talk it over with 
 me an' tell me what I better say to Maggie 
 or else talk to Maggie herself. Maggie'd listen 
 to Mother Knowles, if she'd listen to anybody. 
 She says she's the only real good woman she ever 
 knew, 'n' I guess likely that's so." 
 
 " Is Maggie one of Mrs. Knowles' girls one 
 of those that come to sew or cook?" Marjorie 
 questioned, casting about desperately in her mind 
 for the right thing to say. 
 
 " Well, yes that is, she's been here off 'n' on. 
 She made herself a right pretty shirtwaist in 
 the sewin' class, Maggie did. She's real smart
 
 240 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 She's workin' in a laundry now, an' gettin' her 
 four dollars a week, reg'lar. My land! If I 
 was gettin' four dollars a week, I guess the' 
 wouldn't no fool of a man tempt me to marry 
 him," the woman added, shifting the dull-eyed 
 baby from one knee to the other. " ' Look at 
 me,' I says to Maggie, only last night. ' If you 
 get married, in a year or two you'll be all dragged 
 out same's I be. Why don't ye stay as you 
 be, V keep your good looks, an' have nice 
 clothes to wear ? ' I says ; but there ! You might 
 as well save your breath, she's that headstrong 
 is Maggie. An' that ain't sayin' that she's a 
 bad girl either, for she ain't. She's got a va- 
 cation now for a week, 'n' I s'pose that'll be 
 the end of it. She'll marry Joe Veery an' never 
 go back to the laundry, an' what we're goin' to 
 do at home without the dollar a week she gives 
 me, I don't know." 
 
 In Marjorie's heart a voice was whispering 
 insistently. She tried not to listen to it, tried to 
 drown it in the woman's endless complaints, 
 to silence it by her own objections and argu- 
 ments ; but still and small though it was, it would 
 be heard. 
 
 " You can help Maggie. Perhaps you can 
 save her try, try! Perhaps this is your chance 
 your call to service. Do you dare to refuse? 
 Do it, oh, do it, Marjorie Armstrong! " So that 
 inner voice pleaded and urged more and more 
 insistently, till at last the girl spoke, hoping des- 
 perately that her proposal would be refused
 
 MARJORIE'S CALL TO SERVICE 241 
 
 "Do you think that Maggie would like 
 would care to stay here with me for a few 
 days ? " she stammered. " Maybe " having put 
 her hand to the plough she dared not look back ; 
 she hurried on breathlessly, " maybe I could 
 help her make something some pretty clothes 
 for herself if you think she would like to 
 come and wouldn't find it too quiet and lonely 
 here." 
 
 "My, my! If that won't be just elegant! 
 I guess she will like to come she'll be too 
 proud to live with us after you invitin' her here 
 to stay with you. I must go straight home an' 
 tell her. I guess she'll be right over." 
 
 The woman rose, unceremoniously rousing the 
 baby from a brief nap, and swinging him across 
 her shoulder as if he had been merely the 
 bundle of rags he looked. " Come, Johnny, 
 ketch hold o' my skirt 'n' come along now. 
 Good-bye, miss, an' thank ye." 
 
 As the dirty alpaca trailed across the hall 
 and through the front door, Marjorie drew a 
 long breath of relief, and presently she threw 
 open all the windows, feeling that the room 
 needed a thorough airing. She already regretted 
 that she had offered to have Maggie come. How 
 could she endure the presence and companion- 
 ship of such a girl for days how could she? 
 Of course she was like her mother, only 
 younger. But anyhow, she could not possibly 
 be worse than those dreadful red-eyed children. 
 Marjorie pictured to herself a younger edition
 
 242 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 of the draggled mother an older edition of the 
 red-eyed babies, and shuddered. 
 
 The still small voice in her heart was silent 
 now had it ever spoken at all ? Perhaps it had 
 been just her imagination, and if so, she needn't 
 do it after all needn't have that girl to stay 
 with her. No, she couldn't have her she 
 wouldn't! She would send word to Maggie's 
 mother, and take Elizabeth and go home. 
 
 But then, with a start of dismay, she remem- 
 bered that she did not know where Maggie 
 lived did not even know her other name. But 
 she could get away before Maggie came, and 
 leave word with Bryan. Even Theodore 
 Bryan would not say that she ought to have 
 that girl to stay with her, Marjorie was sure 
 that he would not. How could he ? How could 
 anybody? Yes, she would leave word with him 
 for Maggie. Elizabeth would be home in a few 
 minutes. 
 
 She started up and crossed the room, but with 
 her hand on the knob she paused and stood 
 listening, for again that still small voice was 
 speaking in her heart. 
 
 " How do you know but this may be Maggie's 
 last chance ? " it said. " Perhaps you are the 
 very one the only one who can save her from 
 becoming what her mother is or worse. Do 
 you dare to turn coward ? You promised. Will 
 you break your word to Maggie's mother?" 
 
 For many minutes she stood there with her 
 hand on the door ; but at last, with a long breath,
 
 MARJORIE'S CALL TO SERVICE 243 
 
 she went back to her seat. She could not be a 
 coward, not in that house the house that 
 sheltered Mother Knowles and Theodore Bryan. 
 Unconsciously she lifted her head, and as she 
 did so, there was a sound of quick footsteps 
 through the hall, and then a hesitating knock 
 at the door. 
 
 " Come in," Marjorie called, and the next 
 moment she was looking with wondering, in- 
 credulous eyes into Maggie's face. 
 
 " Takin'," her mother had called her, and at 
 the first glance Marjorie understood why, and 
 found herself wondering how such a girl could 
 be the child of such a mother, for Maggie had 
 a fresh, sonsie Scotch face, with blue eyes, 
 shaded by dark lashes and straight brows, and 
 her dark reddish-brown hair curled and crinkled 
 in the prettiest fashion about her white forehead 
 and neck. 
 
 At the first glance, with a long breath of sur- 
 prise and relief, Marjorie's heart went out to 
 the girl. It was not only because she was so 
 pretty, but it was something in the expression 
 of the clear blue eyes something half mis- 
 chievous, half shy, and altogether winning 
 that made Marjorie impulsively hold out both 
 hands as she cried : 
 
 " Oh are you Maggie ? Are you ? " 
 
 Maggie nodded, and if her mouth was some- 
 what too large for beauty, her smile made up 
 for that, as Marjorie, yielding to a sudden ir- 
 resistible impulse, leaned forward and kissed her.
 
 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 " Maggie," she said frankly, " I've been sit- 
 ting here since your mother left, dreading to 
 have you come, and now I'm just glad that you 
 have come. Will you stay with me for a week 
 will you ? " 
 
 "If you want me, I will," Maggie answered, in 
 quick response to what she read in the face and 
 the voice of this other girl. 
 
 " I do want you. You can't think how lone- 
 some I've been here sometimes, since Mother 
 Knowles went away. I've half made up my 
 mind a dozen times to run off home, but some- 
 thing seemed to hold me here. I think now it 
 must have been because you were coming. If 
 you get lonesome now, or homesick, I shall run 
 away surely; and think how dreadful it would 
 be for Green Tree House to be shut up this 
 part of it, I mean ! " 
 
 " Yes, indeed it would be dreadful for Sabin 
 Street," returned Maggie gravely; then, "home- 
 sick, you said ? " A little frown puckered her 
 smooth forehead, " I guess I ain't very likely to 
 be sick for my home when I can stay here 
 with you." 
 
 It was a strange friendship that, in the next 
 week, sprang up, strong and deep-rooted, be- 
 tween these two girls, whose lives had been in 
 every respect so widely different. There were 
 no more lonely or weary hours for Marjorie. 
 Maggie, with her young, joyous life and vigour, 
 sharing the household tasks, made play of them 
 for both. Even Elizabeth was less prickly and
 
 MARJORIE'S CALL TO SERVICE 245 
 
 impish than usual, and the days slipped swiftly 
 by, troubled only by anxiety over Mother 
 Knowles. Marjorie wrote to her every day 
 long, merry chronicles of the doings of Elizabeth 
 and Duffer, of Bryan and Teddy, of old Mrs. 
 Crum and her gay pink slippers anything and 
 everything she could think of that might bring 
 a smile to tired eyes or a bit of rest to a weary 
 heart. For things were not going well at the 
 Shanleys'. One of the little boys had followed 
 his mother into the great Unknown, and the 
 other was still fighting desperately for his life. 
 And then word came that the brave little mother, 
 Janie, was down with the fever. Maggie grieved 
 over that. 
 
 " Janie Shanley's a good little soul she ain't 
 like most of the Sabin Street girls," she said 
 soberly. " I hope Janie'll get well." 
 
 " I hope so, too," Marjorie responded, though 
 she felt no special interest in Janie, whom she 
 had seen only once or twice. 
 
 Maggie went on with a tinge of bitterness 
 she had not before manifested, " Sometimes, 
 though, I think 'twould be a mighty good thing 
 if all poor folks' children could die while they're 
 babies before they get old enough to be bad. 
 They can't hardly help being bad, livin' the way 
 they do. You don't know anything about it, 
 Miss Marjorie I do," she ended with a 
 sigh. 
 
 " Maggie " Marjorie laid her hand on Mag- 
 gie's "you know what the big brother and
 
 246 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 his boys are trying to do to close the sa- 
 loons and make Sabin Street a clean, decent 
 place?" 
 
 Maggie nodded. "It's a big contract I 
 doubt they'll make it," she said. 
 
 " Oh, yes, they will do it. The big brother 
 always ' makes it,' " Marjorie returned, in a tone 
 of quiet assurance that half surprised herself. 
 It was a new thing for her to champion Theo- 
 dore Bryan. 
 
 " Well, mebbe." Maggie's tone was somewhat 
 dubious. " Anyhow, he's white clear through 
 the big brother. Ain't any of us that don't 
 know that. I wonder " her voice took on a 
 wistful sadness " I wonder why the good Lord 
 doesn't make more of that kind. I guess the 
 world needs 'em pretty bad." 
 
 " You're right, Maggie, the world needs them ; 
 but it needs good women just as much. Mother 
 Knowles is one. I I want to be one, and Mag- 
 gie" her hand tightened on the other girl's 
 " you are going to be one, too. We will work 
 together, you and I for other girls. Shall we 
 not?" 
 
 Maggie hesitated. " I ain't promisin' not till 
 I'm sure " she said slowly. 
 
 Urged by some strong impulse that surprised 
 herself, Marjorie persisted, unconsciously pledg- 
 ing herself, that she might win Maggie, but still 
 Maggie held back, though her blue eyes were full 
 of trouble. 
 
 " I'm thinkin'," she said honestly, " that I want
 
 MARJORIE'S CALL TO SERVICE 247 
 
 some good times for myself I ain't ever had 
 any yet." 
 
 Marjorie's cheeks flushed as she heard this 
 echo of her own passionate longings for happi- 
 ness, but Maggie did not notice as she hurried 
 on, " Oh, Miss Marjorie, you don't know you 
 can't even think what 'tis to have such a home 
 as I've had as most all of us Sabin Street girls 
 have. Mine's better than some, for my father 
 ain't a hard drinker. He goes to the saloon 
 because there ain't any other place where he 
 can get a bit of comfort. I'd go there too, if 
 I was a man. He gives most of his money to 
 mother, but there's eight of us children ten 
 in all to feed and clothe after a fashion, an' 
 there's the rent too. I tell you, Miss Marjorie, 
 it ain't easy to make forty dollars a month do 
 all that, an' mother don't know very well how 
 to make the most of what she has. How should 
 she? She's never had a chance to learn how 
 till now, since she's begun to come here to this 
 house. An' anyway, she's always dragged to 
 death, an' there's always a new baby, an' the 
 older ones runnin' wild in the streets, an' growin' 
 up to be bad, most likely. Would you want to 
 stay in that kind of a home, Miss Marjorie?" 
 She flung the question half defiantly at the 
 other girl. 
 
 " No, Maggie, no, I shouldn't," Marjorie re- 
 turned, "only " 
 
 But Maggie, having begun to open her heart 
 to this new friend, seemed to find relief in tell-
 
 248 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 ing her the whole of her pitiful little life story. 
 " No, I guess you wouldn't!" she repeated pas- 
 sionately. " And I guess you'd say ' yes ' to the 
 first decent fellow that offered to give you a 
 better home ; an' that's why I promised to marry 
 Joe Veery. He don't go to the saloons any- 
 how he says he don't. He makes good wages, 
 an' an' most anything's better than stayin' 
 home." 
 
 " But, Maggie " Marjorie's colour deepened, 
 and she spoke half shyly, yet very earnestly " do 
 you care for him? Because you mustn't marry 
 him, you know, unless you do." 
 
 " I don't care so very much," Maggie an- 
 swered composedly. 
 
 " Oh, then don't marry him, Maggie," Mar- 
 jorie pleaded earnestly. "You're so young, 
 hardly more than a little girl " 
 
 " I'll be sixteen in three months," Maggie 
 interrupted. 
 
 " Yes, I know, but sixteen is too young to 
 marry." 
 
 Maggie's mouth hardened. " I can't stay 
 home no longer, 'n' I won't that's all there is 
 to it. I've made up my mind," she declared. 
 
 " But suppose," Marjorie cried eagerly, " some 
 other way should open for you ; would you wait 
 then would you, Maggie?" 
 
 " There isn't any other way." Maggie's voice 
 was hopeless. 
 
 " Oh, yes, there is we'll find one, sure. Do 
 you like your work at the laundry?"
 
 MARJORIE'S CALL TO SERVICE 249 
 
 " I like the money I get for it," laughed the 
 girl. " An' I don't mind the work much 
 neither just runnin' collars and cuffs through 
 the machine. It's only " the pretty frank face 
 darkened suddenly at some black memory 
 " it's only some o' them that work there that I 
 hate. Some of the men are a bad lot, an' the 
 girls, they're pretty rough too, most of 'em." 
 
 " Maggie," Marjorie cried out impulsively, 
 seeing a possible opening, " how would you like 
 to have a couple of rooms all to yourself, with 
 a washing and a drying machine, and do fine 
 laundry work ladies' shirtwaists, and white 
 dresses, and fine handkerchiefs, and laces how 
 would you like that ? " 
 
 Maggie's eyes widened, and she clasped her 
 hands tightly in her lap as she replied quickly, 
 " Ah, wouldn't I like it ! " But the next moment 
 the light died out of her face, as she sighed, 
 " But what's the use of talking? It would take 
 an awful lot of money to start that way. I never 
 could do it." 
 
 is I'll lend you the money." Marjorie's eyes 
 were shining and her voice full of eager interest, 
 " And I'm sure I could get you all the fine work 
 you could do there'd be mine to begin with. 
 I send it to the laundry now, and they tear and 
 ruin fine things there. Maggie, dear" she 
 leaned forward, her eyes full of a compelling 
 earnestness " won't you try it for a year for 
 six months even won't you, because I want you 
 to so very much ? "
 
 250 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 " Mebbe I couldn't pay back your money," 
 Maggie objected, but the eager light had leaped, 
 like an electric spark, from one to the other, 
 and Maggie's blue eyes now were all a-glow. 
 
 "It wouldn't matter if you didn't. Ti never 
 miss the money but I know you would pay it 
 back," Marjorie told her. " Promise me, Mag- 
 gie, and we'll go this very day, and find the 
 rooms for you." 
 
 " We-ell," Maggie yielded reluctantly, fear- 
 ing, in fact, to pin her faith to such undreamed- 
 of good fortune, " well, we'll see first if we can 
 find the rooms. Mother'll be mad at me," she 
 added, "but I can't help that, an* Joe, he 
 won't like it either, but that won't kill me, I 
 guess," and she threw back her head with a 
 gay laugh. 
 
 Having gained thus much, Marjorie was 
 moved to push her victory a step further. 
 
 " You don't really care much for him, Maggie ; 
 you said so. Promise me that, if my plan works, 
 you won't think of marrying him for a year any- 
 how. Maybe before that time you'll meet some 
 one you will really care for," she urged. 
 
 Maggie laughed again. " There's plenty of 
 'em always hangin' round a girl," she declared, 
 the colour deepening in her round cheeks. Then 
 with a quick, impulsive motion, she turned to 
 the other girl and added, "You've been awful 
 good to me, Miss Marjorie, an* now when 
 you're offering to do so much, I'd be real mean 
 if I didn't do what you ask. So yes, I promise
 
 MARJORIE'S CALL TO SERVICE 251 
 
 you I won't think of marryin' Joe Veery nor 
 any other fellow for a year honest, I won't." 
 
 " Oh, thank you, Maggie, thank you you've 
 made me so happy ! " Marjorie cried, and then 
 for a moment she was silent, filled with wonder 
 at herself. Was it really she Marjorie Arm- 
 strong so happy because this pretty little laun- 
 dry girl had promised not to run away with a 
 man she cared nothing for ? 
 
 " I begin to understand a little what it all 
 means to Theodore Bryan and Mother Knowles," 
 she mused. " It is touching lives" And then 
 a great wave of joy swept over her a wave 
 that seemed to lift her soul to a higher level. 
 
 So she smiled into the honest blue eyes that 
 had been curiously studying her face, and said 
 softly, but very earnestly, " I can't tell you how 
 glad I am, Maggie." 
 
 And Maggie, wondering and wistful, vaguely 
 conscious of something she could not hope to 
 understand, answered with a new humility: 
 
 " I didn't s'pose you'd care so much, Miss 
 Marjorie. I don't see why you should."
 
 XIV 
 GATHERING UP THE THREADS 
 
 MARJORIE lost no time in clinching 
 the nail of Maggie's resolution. She 
 consulted with Bryan, who undertook 
 to find rooms suitable for Maggie, and some one 
 to live with her and help with the work. But 
 rooms in that neighbourhood were hard to find, 
 and Maggie's hopes were fading when Mar- 
 jorie had an inspiration. 
 
 " There's that vacant house right back of this 
 that's for sale. I will buy it, and Maggie can 
 have the rooms she needs and we can rent the 
 others to good tenants. Then we can have a 
 gate in the back fence, so we can go back 
 and forth when we like. What do you say, 
 Maggie ? " 
 
 " Oh ! " breathed Maggie, her eyes shining with 
 glad anticipation. 
 
 " That will do, provided the price is reason- 
 able. How much would you be willing to pay 
 for the house, Miss Armstrong ? " Bryan 
 enquired. 
 
 " Oh, whatever the owner asks for it," she 
 replied carelessly. 
 
 And then suddenly Theodore Bryan was re-
 
 GATHERING UP THE THREADS 253 
 
 minded of what for a little he had forgotten 
 that Marjorie Armstrong was not of his world. 
 She belonged to the world of wealth, and leisure, 
 and culture from which, by his own deliberate 
 choice, he had shut himself out for all time. 
 He took himself sternly in hand, and banished 
 all day dreams from his mind. He attended to 
 the purchase of the house, and helped the two 
 girls to plan the necessary changes and repairs, 
 but he saw no more of Marjorie than was ab- 
 solutely necessary. 
 
 The days that followed each brought its prob- 
 lems and duties to the girl. Maggie stayed on 
 at Green Tree House, while the other house was 
 being made ready, and daily Marjorie was called 
 upon to give help and advice to the girls and 
 women who had fallen into the way of bringing 
 all their troubles to Mother Knowles. 
 
 Some of the girls were rather shy with her, 
 and some would not open their hearts at all to 
 her only running in frequently to enquire what 
 word had come from Mother Knowles, and how 
 she was, and when she would be home again; 
 but the women, strangely enough, were more 
 ready to tell their troubles to the girl. Perhaps 
 it was that the telling to any one was a relief and 
 comfort to them. Some of them said so, in fact, 
 and Marjorie listened and sympathised, and gave 
 money often, and not always wisely and when 
 the last draggled, frowzy woman had swept her 
 trailing skirts out of the door, would fling her- 
 self wearily on the lounge, feeling as if all the
 
 254 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 sins and sorrows of the great city had been 
 poured out upon her spirit. 
 
 " You take these things too hard, Miss Mar- 
 jorie you do, indeed," Maggie said to her one 
 evening. "You let them women tell you all 
 their troubles, and you think they worry over 
 'em same as you do, but they don't. They get 
 hardened to 'em. I know. I know how 'tis 
 with mother. Things don't really worry her half 
 as much as she thinks they do." 
 
 " I hope not, Maggie," replied Marjorie 
 wearily. " Sometimes it seems as if I shall scream 
 if I have to listen to another such story as most 
 of them tell me. I do wonder how dear Mother 
 Knowles ever stands it." 
 
 " Mother Knowles " Maggie interrupted 
 
 herself suddenly to ask, " You haven't heard 
 from her to-day, have you ? " 
 
 " No, I'll go down now and see if Mr. Bryan 
 has, while you put the supper on the table," 
 Marjorie said, forgetting her weariness in her 
 anxiety. She returned directly, her face full of 
 trouble. 
 
 " Janie is better and Dick too, he says, but 
 Mother Knowles herself is sick now," she 
 reported. 
 
 " Mother Knowles," echoed Maggie, dismay 
 in eyes and voice. "Oh, dear, dear! Them 
 Shanleys ain't worth it ! " she added passion- 
 ately. 
 
 " She would say they are," Marjorie reminded, 
 gently.
 
 GATHERING UP THE THREADS 255 
 
 " And who's taking care of her? " Maggie de- 
 manded with asperity, meant not for Mrs. 
 Knowles, but the luckless Shanleys. 
 
 " Theodore Mr. Bryan has sent a nurse to 
 take care of her. She'll be brought home as 
 soon as she's well enough," Marjorie answered. 
 
 It was a week longer before she was well 
 enough, but the day of her return was a high 
 festival at Green Tree House. The girls made 
 the rooms spotlessly neat and fresh, and filled 
 every vase and bowl with flowers. They cooked 
 more delicacies than any well woman could dis- 
 pose of, to say nothing of a sick one ; and all 
 day long the Sabin Street children kept coming 
 with gifts for dear Mother Knowles pathetic 
 little offerings, some of them, at which Marjorie 
 looked with wet eyes. 
 
 And when they had the dear woman back 
 again pale and worn, but her own bright, serene 
 self what a different place the Green Tree 
 House was ! Duffer nearly went mad with joy, 
 and Elizabeth, her sharp, black eyes for once 
 almost tender, lugged out footstools and pillows 
 and shawls enough for half a dozen patients. 
 And old Mrs. Crum sent her daughter down 
 with her beloved pink slumber slippers "be- 
 cause they're so bright and tasty, they'll kind 
 o' perk her up," she said. 
 
 " Poor little Janie is on the mend," Mrs. 
 Knowles told Theodore, when, after supper, he 
 came in to see her, " and Dick, too, is picking up 
 slowly, poor little chap. I thought one time he
 
 256 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 surely would die too. They're out of quaran- 
 tine now, but they can't seem to rally from 
 the weakness the fever has left behind. I'm 
 so glad you're going to get them off into the 
 country. Delia ought to go too. I don't know 
 how she lived through it all, with the baby to 
 see to, besides those three sick children. Theo- 
 dore, that poor girl was splendid. If those 
 children had been her own she could not have 
 done more for them. She never seemed to 
 think of herself through it all." 
 
 " She, too, shall have a rest in the country," 
 Bryan said. " I've arranged it with the help 
 of one of the Fresh Air Clubs, and they are all 
 to go next week, so now you need not worry 
 over them any more. What you have to do is to 
 rest and get strong yourself." 
 
 Mrs. Knowles smiled down at Elizabeth, who 
 was sitting bolt upright, but close to her side, 
 and then her glance wandered to the other side 
 of the room where the two girls were reading 
 such pretty girls both of them, yet whole worlds 
 apart, in spite of their warm friendship. 
 
 " It seems to me that Marjorie is looking a 
 little thin and pale," she said in a low tone to 
 Theodore. " I'm afraid she has had too much 
 to do while I've been away." 
 
 "No, she hasn't I've helped a lot. So has 
 Maggie," Elizabeth put in jealously, with, as 
 usual, the effect of a nervous little terrier snap- 
 ping at a fly. 
 
 " I'm sure you've helped, dear, I knew you
 
 GATHERING UP THE THREADS 257 
 
 would/' Mrs. Knowles said, smiling kindly down 
 again into the sharp little face; whereupon, 
 Elizabeth's conscience giving her a nudge, she 
 added in a lower tone, " But I wasn't good all 
 the time. Sometimes I was bad not very often 
 though." 
 
 " I guess we're all bad sometimes, child," the 
 tender voice comforted. And then, to her own 
 immense surprise, Elizabeth sniffed, but very 
 softly, holding her eyes wide open lest any one 
 suspect her of " snivelling." Cry-babies Eliza- 
 beth viewed with scorn unutterable. 
 
 Presently the two girls came over by the 
 fire a little fire was not unwelcome, spring, 
 though it was and Mother Knowles had to hear 
 the whole story of the house that had been pur- 
 chased, and the rooms that were being fitted 
 up for Maggie and a woman that had been 
 found to live with her a woman who had been 
 trying to keep soul and body together on the 
 pittance she earned by slop-work. 
 
 "Only think of it, Mother Knowles," Mar- 
 jorie cried out, " that poor Miss Slater has been 
 making wrappers at sixty cents a dozen, and out- 
 ing shirts at fifty cents! Is it any wonder she's 
 worn to skin and bones? She is going to live 
 with Maggie on the first floor. They'll have 
 four rooms, and she says she's so happy over 
 it that she positively can't sleep nights," the girl 
 ended, with a catch in her voice. 
 
 Mrs. Knowles looked almost as happy over 
 it as poor Miss Slater. Her eyes lingered lov-
 
 258 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 ingly on Mar j one's face, seeing the new expres- 
 sion in the dark eyes. The restless, unsatisfied 
 look that had sometimes marred the beauty of 
 the young face, was gone now, and in its place 
 was a gentle gravity and peace. 
 
 " It hasn't hurt the child the care and re- 
 sponsibility and all, of these weeks," she mused. 
 " She looks to me as if she had found peace 
 
 at last. I wonder " Her glance turned to 
 
 Bryan, lingering with even greater tenderness 
 on his plain face. Then she shook her head 
 slightly, and left her sentence unfinished, even 
 to her own thought. 
 
 "And how about the crusade, Theodore?" 
 she questioned, after a brief moment's silence. 
 " Is it progressing, or have the boys lost their 
 enthusiasm ? " 
 
 "They haven't lost a bit. On the contrary, 
 I .think the crusading spirit grows stronger the 
 more opposition they meet, and they are meeting 
 with plenty." 
 
 She nodded. " Tell me all about it," she said. 
 " You didn't give me half the news I wanted, 
 in your letters, though it was so good of you 
 both to write so often. I don't know what I 
 should have done without your letters through 
 those long weeks." She looked from one to the 
 other with grateful affection in her tender eyes. 
 
 " The boys have gotten about the whole of 
 the old 'gang' enlisted now," Theo told her. 
 " To clean up Sabin Street, and go against Boss 
 Brady to do it as they must is such a stupen-
 
 GATHERING UP THE THREADS 259 
 
 dous undertaking that the very immensity of it 
 instead of daunting the boys, seems actually to 
 have captured their imaginations. The men, 
 mostly, laugh at the idea, not believing that the 
 boys can ever carry it through; but I believe 
 they will I really do, Mother Knowles. There 
 are three of them who are enthused clear 
 through, and who do you think two of those 
 three are ? " 
 
 Mrs. Knowles considered for a moment ; then, 
 " Black Jim ? " she questioned. 
 
 " Yes, Black Jim, though I can't imagine how 
 you guessed. And Tom Brown is the second, 
 and the third is Tony Trudo." 
 
 " Tony Trudo ! Well, that does surprise me. 
 How did you ever get him stirred up in such a 
 cause? " 
 
 "/ didn't it was my poor little Tommy 
 O'Brien. I told Tony about Tommy that his 
 life of suffering was due to his father nearly 
 killing him, when Tommy was a baby, and the 
 father had been drinking. That settled the mat- 
 ter for Tony that and Tommy's delight when 
 he heard about the crusade. Those three are 
 like a flame, and every boy they tackle seems to 
 catch more or less of the fire from them. I've 
 told Tommy stories of the old Crusades, of King 
 Arthur and his knights, and Tommy suggested 
 that the boys all be knights of the white flag 
 white for purity, not cowardice, you may be 
 sure. You know how easily a boy's imagination 
 is fired. They caught at the suggestion, and
 
 260 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 now the knights meet every week in the fire 
 room, and every one wears a tiny white flag on 
 his jacket. Tommy, poor lad, is so proud of 
 his that I believe he wears it day and night. 
 Now there is hardly a boy in the neighbourhood 
 who is not wild to be a knight. It has made a 
 wonderful difference already in the street, for 
 the 'gang' now has an outlet for its surplus 
 energy and doesn't have to tie tin cans on the 
 tails of stray dogs," he ended with a smile and 
 a glance at Duffer curled up on his mistress' 
 skirt. 
 
 "This is news worth hearing," Mrs. Knowles 
 exclaimed, her warm interest driving the 
 shadows from her tired eyes. " It is splendid, 
 Theodore, but what if the boys lose their fight? " 
 
 " Even then the fight itself, in such a spirit, 
 and with such a purpose, will do them a world 
 of good. It is making men of them fast. But 
 they won't lose they are going to win." 
 
 " Win, against the liquor men and Boss 
 Brady? It hardly seems possible." 
 
 " ' All things are possible, ' " Theodore quoted 
 in a low tone. " But I've kept you talking long 
 enough. You must get a good rest to-night," 
 and with that he went away. 
 
 A week later, a very happy Maggie was in- 
 stalled, with a no less happy Miss Slater, in the 
 renovated house, and the hands of both were 
 soon full of work. 
 
 " It's pure fun to wash and iron with these 
 machines and everything right to our hands,"
 
 GATHERING UP THE THREADS 261 
 
 Maggie declared joyously, "and my! the price 
 we get for the work! I can't hardly believe it 
 yet. If it keeps on, we'll make a hundred dol- 
 lars a month, Miss Slater'n me together a 
 hundred dollars a month, just think of it! And 
 I'm handin' mother three dollars a week, so she's 
 satisfied, for that's more than I gave her when 
 I was at the laundry. And I've you to thank 
 for it all," Maggie ended, her blue eyes brim- 
 ming with grateful affection as she looked at 
 her friend. 
 
 And Marjorie answered, " Maggie, I shall 
 never cease to be glad that you came to Green 
 Tree House that day, before I had a chance to 
 be a coward and desert." 
 
 Into Maggie's eyes there crept a shrewd 
 twinkle as she made quick reply. " You'd 
 never 'a' done it, Miss Marjorie. You needn't 
 tell me!"
 
 <. XV 
 BRADY AND OTHERS 
 
 T TOW goes the crusade, Teddy?" Mar- 
 
 I I jorie asked one evening a week or two 
 -*- -* later, when her cousin had come to sit 
 for an hour by Mrs. Knowles' fire. 
 
 "You never saw anything like it," he an- 
 swered, his face kindling with quick interest. 
 " I was in my workroom when they had their 
 last meeting in the fire room, and to hear those 
 boys well, as they would express it, ' it certainly 
 does beat the band.' When I heard those 
 chaps talk, and thought of what they were 
 when we came here to Sabin Street, I felt 
 that Bryan's choice of his life work was fully 
 justified. A man who can win such boys in so 
 short a time, and fairly make them over, as he 
 has done, could hardly be doing as much for 
 the world in any other way. They believe in 
 him absolutely, as well they may. Some of them 
 just about worship him, you know." 
 
 " I wonder how he does it how he tames 
 such little savages as they were," Marjorie said, 
 half to herself. " How does he do it, Teddy? " 
 
 "He makes them feel that he has faith in 
 them," explained Marston slowly, " and they are
 
 BRADY AND OTHERS 263 
 
 sharp enough to see that it's no make-believe 
 that he really does believe in them. He just 
 tells them what he expects of them, and they 
 never seem to think that they can disappoint 
 him. That's one part of it. Then he keeps them 
 so busy ' helping ' in one way or another, that 
 they've no time for the mischief they used to 
 be at. He holds up his own high ideals be- 
 fore them, and I tell you they have to step 
 lively to keep up with him. And then, he's so 
 conveniently and wisely deaf and blind to 
 many of their slips, petty slips, you know he's 
 never blind or deaf to the really important ones 
 and there are times when he's just a boy with 
 them, as full of quips, and quirks, and jokes, and 
 frolics, as any one of the crowd, and they like 
 that. That's his way of showing them that boys 
 can have fun, clean honest fun, that may leave 
 some bumps and bruises on heads and hands, but 
 never any scars on their souls. I tell you, little 
 girl, it's a liberal education in soul-training to live 
 for a year with Theodore Bryan God bless 
 him!" 
 
 " He surely will," put in Mrs. Knowles, in her 
 quiet way. 
 
 "I'm getting a bit anxious about Bryan," 
 Marston went on gravely. " He's the one the 
 liquor-men will strike at. I gave several of the 
 boys a word of warning the other night, and 
 they promised to keep eyes and ears open and 
 give me warning in case of need." 
 
 "You're afraid that they wfll try to hurt
 
 264 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 Theodore or kill him ? " Mrs. Knowles ques- 
 tioned, anxiety in face and voice. 
 
 Teddy nodded. " Some of those who are go- 
 ing to take a hand in this fight soon, will stop 
 at nothing," he said gravely, " but you know what 
 Bryan would say that no harm can come to 
 him whatever comes will be good," Marston 
 ended in a low, moved voice. 
 
 " And he's right," Mrs. Knowles agreed, " but 
 still " 
 
 " But still," Marston took up the broken sen- 
 tence, " we'll do our best to safeguard him. He 
 has no idea of it, but he never goes out now 
 at night without a bodyguard of the boys, who 
 keep him in sight, and they are keeping watch, 
 too, on several suspicious characters." 
 
 " Have they succeeded in closing up any more 
 of the saloons?" Marjorie enquired. 
 
 " Not yet, but the trade is falling off in the 
 Sabin Street places, and some of the saloon- 
 keepers are making savage threats. Others, 
 wiser in their generation, are offering special 
 inducements to boys. In one place, any boy can 
 get a cigarette if he will go into the saloon for 
 it, even if he doesn't drink or buy anything. 
 Others offer tobacco free with drinks, and others 
 picture postcards, and there are always free 
 lunches." 
 
 " And aren't any of the boys tempted by such 
 offers?" asked Marjorie. 
 
 " Of course they are tempted, but the knights 
 are fighting their own battles as well as their
 
 BRADY AND OTHERS 265 
 
 ' crusade.' Then, you see, they stand together 
 now as one man, and the stronger ones watch 
 the weaker, and keep them braced up." 
 
 " Poor little chaps ! " Mrs. Knowles said 
 softly, " with so many things to tempt them, and 
 no help in their own homes! It's 'most a won- 
 der that they do hold out, I think." 
 
 " They not only have no help at home, but 
 many of them have their fiercest battles there. 
 That Jim now Black Jim they used to call him 
 I tell you, if Bryan had done nothing else but 
 work the change he has in that one boy, it would 
 be a splendid year's work. His father is the 
 most bitter of all against Bryan. He undertook 
 to flog the boy for coming here, but Jim is a 
 big, brawny chap, you know, and he didn't suc- 
 ceed; he succeeded, however, in driving Jim 
 from home, and now he won't go near the place. 
 But the father seems to have some kind of a hold 
 over a great many of the men, especially those 
 who work on the wharves. I think he's the boss 
 of a big gang of roustabouts, or something of 
 that sort, and I suppose they are afraid of losing 
 their jobs if they go against him." 
 
 Marston was silent for a moment, then he 
 added, " I'm afraid that there is trouble a-brew- 
 ing for Green Tree House, and to tell the truth 
 I'd feel easier if you " he turned to tell his 
 cousin " would take Mother Knowles here and 
 Elizabeth and go off to New York for a vaca- 
 tion. The change would do you all a world of 
 good."
 
 266 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 " So you want us to desert ? " Mrs. Knowles' 
 eyes were full of quiet amusement as she asked 
 the question. 
 
 " It wouldn't be deserting. You can't help 
 much in this crisis by staying, and you can help 
 by going. It would relieve Bryan and me of 
 a deal of anxiety." 
 
 Mrs. Knowles considered that for a moment; 
 then she said, " I see, and I agree with you, that 
 it is best for Marjorie to go, and she might take 
 Elizabeth, if she likes. I shall stay here. There 
 is no reason for you to worry about me, and I 
 might be able to do some good." 
 
 " And I shall stay, Teddy," added Marjorie. 
 
 " But why ? " he argued. " There's no reason 
 in the world why you should stay, Marjorie, 
 even if Mother Knowles does. I can under- 
 stand her attitude, but you are just here for 
 well, I don't quite know what for but anyhow, 
 there's nothing that need keep you here, and 
 you know well enough that if father were home, 
 he'd make you go back there." 
 
 " But as it happens, he isn't." There was a 
 mutinous flash in Marjorie's dark eyes. " And 
 when I've never before had a chance to live in 
 the very midst of a ' crusade,' do you think I'm 
 going to miss it now? Indeed, I'm not. I'm 
 going to stay and help too." 
 
 " But that's just it by staying you will hin- 
 der and not help," Marston urged. " Theodore 
 is awfully anxious about you I could see it from 
 the way he urged your going away. If we have
 
 BRADY AND OTHERS 267 
 
 you to think about, it will be just so much un- 
 necessary worry." 
 
 " I thought he didn't worry," the girl flung 
 back, but for some reason her eyes were shining 
 happily. 
 
 " Well, in a way he doesn't that is, he never 
 worries about anything that concerns only 
 himself, but I know he is worried about 
 you." 
 
 "Oh, well, I'll think it over," was all that 
 Marjorie would concede, and Teddy had to let 
 it go at that. 
 
 But the next evening he brought further news. 
 Several saloons, they had learned, were running 
 at a loss, and the feeling against Bryan was grow- 
 ing more bitter. The boys reported threats of 
 dreadful things to happen to him and his work- 
 shops, if he did not put a stop to this move- 
 ment for cleaning up Sabin Street. The street 
 was good enough as it was nobody that wasn't 
 a fool or a meddler wanted it changed. If Bryan 
 was not satisfied with the neighbourhood, let 
 him clear out of it, and a good riddance it 
 would be. 
 
 " That's the kind of talk the boys report from 
 all the saloons," Marston said, " but there's 
 something better to tell. You know we've given 
 up the fire room, Saturday evenings, to the men 
 lately. Bryan told them that they could come 
 there, and read the papers, and smoke, or talk, 
 or use the room in any way they liked. So 
 they've been coming, sometimes only two or
 
 268 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 three, sometimes a dozen or more. Most of 
 them are fathers of Bryan's boys, or of your 
 girls, Mother Knowles. Well, Bryan hasn't said 
 a word to them about the crusade until last 
 night, when one of them asked him about it, 
 and then he told them straight out what he 
 meant to do, and do you know, they stayed and 
 talked it over for an hour or more, and finally, 
 six of the men offered to help; and they ac- 
 tually went off with the little white flags pinned 
 to their coats." 
 
 " I guess Theodore was pleased over that," 
 Mrs. Knowles commented. 
 
 " He was, indeed," Marston answered. " It 
 will be a big help and encouragement to the boys. 
 He had a message to-day from Boss Brady a 
 threat that if he didn't mind his own business 
 and let the saloons alone, he'd soon wish he 
 had." 
 
 " Ah, I've been expecting that," Mrs. Knowles 
 replied gravely. " He hasn't seen Brady yet, 
 has he?" 
 
 " No, he's tried to several times, but hasn't 
 yet found him. I fancy that Brady doesn't want 
 to be found he'd rather give his warnings by 
 proxy. But Bryan will catch him yet. He 
 doesn't know how to give up." 
 
 And a few days later Bryan did find Boss 
 Brady found him by going to his office at 
 eight o'clock in the morning and waiting 
 till he came. Brady was a big, broad-shouldered 
 Irishman, with bushy, red hair, twinkling
 
 BRADY AND OTHERS 269 
 
 blue eyes, and a jolly laugh that sounded as 
 if he cared for nothing in the world but a good 
 story. He had been a saloon-keeper himself 
 once; now his saloons were kept by others. 
 Brady was one of the most influential men in the 
 City Council. He was not accounted a wealthy 
 man, yet he could always command money for 
 anything that he wanted to do, and the men of 
 his ward, most of them, were his, body and 
 soul. Why shouldn't they be, when the Boss was 
 the best friend they had always able and ready 
 to help them out of trouble, to find them a job, 
 or to advance money for the extra expenses of 
 sickness and funerals, or even weddings and 
 christenings ? He knew all the women and chil- 
 dren as well as the men, never forgetting a face 
 or a name, and his baggy pockets were generally 
 supplied with candy and peanuts for the little 
 ones. 
 
 As Bryan looked into the broad, fresh-coloured 
 face, with its twinkling blue eyes, he remembered 
 all these things, and he did not wonder that the 
 ward gave, year after year, a solid vote for 
 Brady, or Brady's men. 
 
 But the genial light in Brady's eyes changed 
 suddenly to a steel-like glitter when he learned 
 who the caller was that he found waiting so 
 composedly outside his office door, for Bryan had 
 preferred to wait there rather than inside. For 
 barely a second Brady hesitated, then he flung 
 open the door with a curt " Go in, then," and 
 Bryan went in.
 
 270 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 " Now, what is it ye want ? " Brady demanded, 
 in a truculent tone, flinging himself into a chair, 
 and leaving Bryan to stand or sit. He chose to 
 sit, and quietly drew forward a chair while, from 
 under scowling brows, the other man's narrowed 
 eyes studied his face. 
 
 " I want you to help me clean up Sabin Street, 
 Mr. Brady." 
 
 As Bryan said that, Brady's glance flickered 
 angrily, and his scowl deepened ; then he grinned, 
 but it was a grin that suggested a snarl no 
 genial smile, this. 
 
 " Ye do, do ye ? An' d'ye git everything ye 
 want, young feller ? " he demanded. 
 
 " I've never wanted but one thing that I did 
 not get sooner or later." 
 
 " H'm ! An' what was that ? " Brady enquired, 
 stirred by sudden curiosity. His curiosity deep- 
 ened as he saw the change that passed swiftly 
 over the young man's face. There was some- 
 thing in that look something at once sorrowful, 
 tender, strong, and sweet that he had never seen 
 in any other face and, in his fashion, Brady was 
 a keen reader of faces. But in a moment the 
 look was gone, as Bryan answered slowly, 
 "You'd be interested, I think, if I should tell 
 you. Perhaps I will, some time, but not now. 
 Not until we know each other better, you and I, 
 Mr. Brady." 
 
 " Huh ! " Brady grunted. " I guess I know all 
 I want to about you, young man. An' as to 
 Sabin Street, it's good enough as 'tis. There ain't
 
 BRADY AND OTHERS 271 
 
 goin' to be any cleanin' up there. You hear 
 me?" He flung himself back in his chair, his 
 eyes now hard and threatening, his lips set in a 
 straight line under his bristling red moustache. 
 
 " But that is where, for once, you are mistaken, 
 Mr. Brady." Bryan's voice was even and steady 
 almost gentle indeed ; but Brady's experienced 
 ear detected the ring of determination under the 
 gentleness. His wrath flamed out suddenly, and 
 he leaned forward, shaking a thick forefinger in 
 Bryan's face as he said : 
 
 " You listen to me. I own the ninth ward do 
 you understand? I own it. There's goin' to be 
 no clean up there unless I say so, an' I ain't 
 a-goin' to say so. That's settled, an' we needn't 
 either of us waste any more breath arguin' about 
 it." 
 
 " Mr. Brady," returned Bryan, " I've never 
 met you before, but I've wanted to for a long 
 time, and for several reasons. One is, because I 
 felt sure that you were a man of very unusual 
 power and insight, else you could never have 
 gained the influence you have in the ward " 
 
 " Aw cut it out ! Blarney won't work with 
 me," interrupted the Boss. 
 
 The smile that flashed over Bryan's face so 
 transfigured it that for a moment Brady stared 
 at him in sheer surprise. There was something 
 in that smile that took the fight out of him in the 
 queerest fashion ! Bryan went on quietly, " No, 
 it isn't blarney I should know better than to try 
 that with you. I was only trying to make you
 
 272 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 understand why I have wanted to be friends with 
 you." 
 
 Brady's jaw dropped. He looked first be- 
 wildered, then angry. 
 
 " Friends wid me ! " he shouted, falling back 
 into old habits of speech in his excitement. 
 " Well, I guess it'll be after this when you an' 
 me's chums, unless " his keen shrewd glance 
 searched the other's face doubtfully as he added 
 in a half-whisper " unless ye've come to sell out 
 to me. Is dat de trick ? If 'tis, I reckon we c'n 
 come to terms, an' mebbe I c'n put you on to a 
 job a sight better 'n that little two-cent business 
 you're runnin' down there on Sabin Street." 
 
 " No," Bryan answered, in the same even tone, 
 " no, I don't sell out my friends any more than you 
 do yours, Mr. Brady. Sabin Street cleaned up 
 made over as it is going to be would be worth 
 twice as much, even to you, as it is now ; because, 
 you don't need to be told that sober, honest, 
 prosperous working men are worth more than 
 men that drink away their brains and money, and 
 so lose their jobs and have to be supported by 
 somebody else or by the city. They can't vote 
 for you when they have drunk themselves into 
 their graves or into the almshouse. Mr. Brady," 
 he looked straight into the angry eyes, speaking 
 slowly and impressively " no man on earth can 
 hinder the work that has begun down there on 
 Sabin Street, but you can help it immensely, and 
 double your own power there if you will now 
 throw all your influence on our side. Will you ? "
 
 BRADY AND OTHERS 273 
 
 Brady fairly gasped with the shock of surprise ; 
 then he flushed a dark red, as he choked and 
 spluttered in his furious anger. 
 
 " Help ! Me help in such fool work as that ? " 
 he shouted, with a bitter oath. " When I do, 
 you'll be a good bit less of a fool than you are 
 now. If that's all ye've come here for, the 
 sooner ye git out o' this the better." 
 
 " It is not quite all," replied Bryan, wholly un- 
 moved by the epithets which the other flung at 
 him. " Mr. Brady, there is a Power at work 
 down there on Sabin Street a Power that no 
 mortal man can defeat. Don't think for a 
 moment it is I that you are opposing. If you 
 force me out, if you kill me, it will make no dif- 
 ference the work will go on just the same, for 
 the time has come for Sabin Street and all that 
 neighbourhood to be made clean. It is a chance 
 that, I think, will never again be offered you 
 the chance to establish your power and influence 
 on a foundation that will not be shaken by any 
 political changes. If you Boss Brady will 
 come to the front in this movement, do you know 
 what it will mean? It will mean that men of 
 high position and influence in this city will be on 
 your side, working with you for civic betterment 
 for the sake of the general good. It will mean 
 that those boys of mine boys who, in a few 
 years, remember, will be voters it will mean 
 that those boys will accept your leadership as 
 their fathers have accepted it. 
 
 " On the other hand, if you continue to fight
 
 274 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 against this movement, so surely as I am speak- 
 ing to you at this moment, you will lose the 
 allegiance and the votes of very many of the 
 men, and of all the boys who will be the men of 
 to-morrow." 
 
 "You go chase yerself fer a goat!" Brady 
 sneered. " If you live till them ' men of ter- 
 morrer ' git to the ballot-box, you'll find that 
 their votes will go fer me in spite of all you can 
 do or say to prevent it. You!" He pulled his 
 huge bulk up out of his chair and pointed to the 
 door. " Now, git out ! I've wasted all the time 
 I'm a-goin' to waste on you; but remember I 
 give ye fair warnin'. It'll be a fight to a finish, 
 an' you'll have nobody but yerself to blame fer 
 what happens to you" 
 
 He whirled about, turning his back on his 
 visitor, and without another word Bryan left the 
 room. But after he was gone, Brady sat for a 
 long time staring grimly out of the window. At 
 last, with an impatient frown, he turned to his 
 mail, muttering to himself as he did so : 
 
 " ' Power,' he said, the young fool. I guess 
 he'll find out that the' ain't no power in heaven or 
 earth that can stand against Dennis Brady in the 
 ninth ward." But in spite of his defiance, he 
 could not quite shake off the impression of those 
 solemnly spoken words of Theodore Bryan. 
 Again and again that day they came back to his 
 memory, but the only effect was to make him 
 more doggedly determined than ever to fight to 
 the bitter end against reform in " his ward."
 
 BRADY AND OTHERS 275 
 
 Meantime, Bryan was on his way to the office 
 of Mr. Harris. That gentleman, having recently 
 given up the active supervision of his business to 
 his younger partners, had now leisure to give to 
 outside interests. He had been more than once 
 to Green Tree House, and was quite at home in 
 the workshop and the club, and his interest in the 
 young man, and appreciation of his character and 
 his work, had made rapid growth. 
 
 He had known little, however, of the crusade 
 that the boys had lately undertaken, but he was 
 a deeply interested listener as Bryan told him 
 about it, and about his unsuccessful attempt to 
 enlist Boss Brady on the side of reform. 
 
 " But surely, Bryan, you didn't really expect to 
 win him over Boss Brady, of all men ! " he 
 remonstrated. 
 
 " No, not really, but I could see what an im- 
 petus it would give to the movement if I could 
 win him, and I didn't know I mean " he spoke 
 more slowly, as he always did when referring to 
 the Unseen Power " I did know that, if it was 
 necessary for him to be won over, it could be 
 done." 
 
 " M-m well evidently it wasn't necessary 
 then. But, Bryan, this is a pretty large contract 
 that you have undertaken the cleaning up of the 
 old ninth ward. I'm not sure it is wise, even for 
 you, to undertake so big a thing." 
 
 " Ah, but I am not undertaking it, you see," 
 replied Bryan quickly. " I am just following the 
 leadings that come day by day." His face
 
 276 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 kindled into eagerness. " Mr. Harris, I wish you 
 would come down next Tuesday evening and see 
 for yourself. You can sit in Marston's room 
 the boys won't know you are there, though they 
 wouldn't care, I think, if they did. But I want 
 you to see how the idea of ' cleaning up Sabin 
 Street ' has literally taken possession of them. 
 I never saw anything like it, and that is what 
 makes me so sure that they will succeed." 
 
 " It would mean a great deal to the city if they 
 should," Mr. Harris said thoughtfully. 
 
 " Yes, and think what it will mean to the boys 
 themselves and to their mothers and sisters! 
 Why, Mr. Harris, if they do it, and if we can 
 get one of those recreation grounds down there, 
 in place of the vile dens they are trying to drive 
 out, you can't begin to realise what a difference 
 it will make to that whole neighbourhood." 
 
 Mr. Harris nodded. " It would make a tre- 
 mendous difference, I'm sure of that," he agreed, 
 " and every such neighbourhood so made over, 
 means an enormous gain for the city as a Whole. 
 You know [he named three men], don't you? 
 They are doing a great deal in civic reform just 
 now." 
 
 " I know two of them. Griswold I have never 
 met." 
 
 " Well, you must meet him. He's a fine man 
 broad-minded, public-spirited, and all that 
 and he has money, which he spends freely. I'll 
 give you a line to him. He's an old classmate of 
 mine."
 
 BRADY AND OTHERS 277 
 
 He turned at once to his desk and wrote 
 rapidly ; then handed Bryan three notes. 
 
 " There if you will insist upon fighting giants, 
 I suppose I must help you all I can, being such a 
 useless old chump myself," he said, with a smile. 
 " Look up all those men. If they can't help 
 you themselves, it will do no harm for you to 
 talk over your plans with them they may have 
 some helpful suggestions to offer. And I'll be 
 down there Tuesday night to take a look or a 
 listen rather at your ' knights,' " he added. 
 
 His heart warmed by the kindly interest of 
 this old friend, Bryan went next to Cambridge to 
 see the dean, whose friendship for him had not 
 lessened. The dean welcomed him warmly, and 
 he, too, listened with interest to the story of the 
 Sabin Street crusade. 
 
 " Fine, fine ! " he declared. " You are at your 
 old work of making boys into good citizens and 
 good men, Bryan. And if you can make over 
 that old ninth ward, it will be a civic service of 
 the best. But, my boy, you need to be very care- 
 ful. Brady isn't going to let you take possession 
 of his bailiwick without a desperate fight, and 
 the liquor interests will back him up. That 
 means that money will be spent freely in all sorts 
 of crooked ways, you know, and you are run- 
 ning risks yourself, pretty dangerous ones. You 
 realise that ? " 
 
 " That part of it is not worth a thought. I 
 cannot be hurt till my work is done you believe 
 that, professor and when it is done, what mat-
 
 278 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 ter ? As to the rest, you are right, of course, and 
 I haven't any more idea than you have, how we 
 are to win against such, apparently, tremendous 
 odds ; only, I know that we shall win in the end. 
 It may be a long fight, though, as it is certain to 
 be a bitter one." 
 
 "Yes, yes," the dean agreed thoughtfully. 
 " You say that Mr. Harris gave you letters to 
 men that he thought would help you. Do you 
 mind letting me see the names ? " 
 
 " Surely not," and Bryan handed him the 
 notes. He read the names on the envelopes, and 
 nodded approval. 
 
 " I don't know any better men than those, but 
 I want to give you several other names," he said, 
 mentioning some prominent clergymen of the 
 city, and a couple of the professors. " You can't 
 have too many good friends in a struggle like this 
 they'll all be needed. I'll see one or two of 
 them, and write to the others to-night, and in a 
 day or two you can look them up. And there's 
 Perry he's a newspaper man, you know, and 
 if you could get him interested, he would 
 tell the story in his paper in a fashion that 
 would win you a host of friends and helpers. 
 Yes, you must get Perry interested, by all 
 means." 
 
 " Get him to go down to our place and see the 
 boys themselves, and hear them tell their own 
 story. That will interest him more than any- 
 thing I could say," Bryan answered, " that, and a 
 glimpse of Sabin Street with its saloons and
 
 BRADY AND OTHERS 279 
 
 other dens wide open for business. Maybe he 
 isn't acquainted with Sabin Street." 
 
 The dean nodded again. " I'll get him down 
 there at least I'm pretty sure I can. I've had it 
 in mind to bring you two together for some time. 
 Perry, too, is a young man, but he's a fellow that 
 is going to be heard from, if I'm a judge of men." 
 
 Bryan went back to Sabin Street at nightfall, 
 tired, indeed, but vastly heartened by the interest 
 in his boys, and their great undertaking, which 
 had been shown by most of the men he had seen. 
 As he turned into Sabin Street, Tom Brown 
 overtook him, breathless and eager. 
 
 " Say, brother," he began, " you better look 
 out for Joe Veery. He's layin' for you him 
 and Billy Hodges." 
 
 "Joe Veery? What's his grievance?" Bryan 
 enquired. " He doesn't keep a saloon, does he ?"" 
 
 " No, it's because of Maggie Presley. She's 
 gone back on him, and he's blamin' it all on you." 
 
 " Oh, that's it, is it? " replied Bryan. " Well, 
 I had nothing to do with Maggie's change of 
 mind, but that's all right. As to poor Billy 
 Hodges, I suppose somebody has promised him a 
 drink if he can hit me over the head with a club 
 some dark night. Billy isn't to blame, poor 
 chap ; but I'll look out for him, and thank you 
 for the warning, Tom." 
 
 "No," assented Tom, "Billy ain't to blame 
 for what he does. He's only half-witted even 
 when he's sober, but don't you forget, big 
 brother, that he can heave a rock as hard and as
 
 280 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 straight as the best of 'em. You'd best look 
 sharp when you pass a dark corner." 
 
 Bryan's smile in answer to that was quite un- 
 concerned, but it sent the boy away with a warm 
 glow at his heart. 
 
 Bryan meant to be careful, but, being quite 
 fearless, he often forgot to " look sharp " when 
 he passed a dark corner; and so, a few nights 
 later, as he was going by such a place on his way 
 home, a cobble-stone struck him a glancing blow 
 on the shoulder. As he turned swiftly, he caught 
 a glimpse of a tall, shambling figure vanishing 
 into the deeper shadows of a nearby alley. 
 
 " Tom was not mistaken that was Billy 
 Hodges, sure enough," Bryan said to himself. 
 " A bit higher and it might have done some 
 damage, but it didn't go a bit higher," and he 
 went on his way, brushing the incident from his 
 thoughts as unconcernedly as, a little later, he 
 brushed the street dirt from his coat, where the 
 stone had soiled it. More than once after that, 
 half-witted Billy Hodges laid in wait in the night 
 shadows when Bryan passed by, but each time 
 there were two or three boys not far behind him. 
 Billy dared not strike, for he knew that the boys 
 were watching him closely, and so Bryan went 
 on his way uninjured, and quite unaware of his 
 danger.
 
 XVI 
 
 BRYAN'S KNIGHTS 
 
 ON an evening in early summer, Bryan was 
 sitting in the fire room with Teddy 
 Marston. It was too warm for a fire, 
 but the room, with its plain comfortable furnish- 
 ings, was ever a pleasant place, and Marston 
 often lingered there for a talk with his friend 
 after the evening work at the shop was ended. 
 The two were discussing the latest developments 
 in the crusade, when suddenly there came an 
 energetic pounding on the door that opened 
 into the yard. 
 
 " How did anybody get in there ? " Bryan said, 
 hurrying to the door. As he opened it, three 
 barefooted boys tumbled in upon him, and broke 
 into an excited tangle of talk. 
 
 " Look here, boys, suppose you try to quiet 
 down a bit and tell us what's the matter. Kelly, 
 you tell, and you other two wait till he gets 
 through," Bryan said. " Now, Kelly ? " 
 
 And Kelly, a lean freckle-faced boy of thirteen 
 
 took up the tale. " He undertook to strap me 
 
 to-night, me father did, but he didn't make much 
 
 at that I'm most as big as he is. 'Twas for 
 
 281
 
 282 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 comin' here, he tried it 'n' then he said if I 
 didn't keep away from here, an' from you, he'd 
 put me in the Boys' Pen." " Boys' Pen " being 
 short for the Reform School. 
 
 " An* my ol' man he said the same," put in the 
 second boy. " It's Sullivan put him up to it, I 
 know, 'cause of our crusade, and " 
 
 "You hush up, Tim brother said fer me to 
 tell first." Kelly elbowed the second boy to the 
 rear, and hurried on to forestall further interrup- 
 tions. " But, you bet, the ol' man ain't goin' to 
 shut me out of this place, nor out o' the crusade 
 neither nor yet Tim's dad can't do it wid him. 
 I got away an' found Tim, an' we jest scooted 
 over to Myers' place " he nodded towards the 
 third boy " Nick lives up on the top floor, ye 
 know, an' we knew my ol' man was watchin' to 
 see if we come over here, so we pulled off our 
 shoes, an' lit out through the scuttle, an' crep' 
 soft-foot over the roofs, an' slid down the water- 
 spout here into your yard. Gee! But 'twas 
 great sport, us skinnin' over them roofs, humped 
 over like we was Tom cats, so the ol' man 
 wouldn't see us, an' him a-sittin' in the moon- 
 light at our winder watchin' to see us come 
 out of Nick's door. I bet he's there yet a- 
 watchin'." 
 
 Kelly showed every tooth in his wide mouth in 
 a delighted grin, and his two companions nudged 
 each other and chuckled. But the grin faded 
 from Kelly's face as he perceived that Bryan was 
 looking at him with grave thought fulness.
 
 BRYAN'S KNIGHTS 283 
 
 " Say," he broke out eagerly and earnestly, " you 
 don't think I'd back out, do ye? No, sir-e-e 
 not fer my ol' man ner a dozen like him. 
 I'm pledged, I am ! " and his head went up 
 proudly. 
 
 " Yes, Kelly, you are pledged, and I'm very 
 sure that you would that you will, keep your 
 pledge. But, my lad " Bryan's hand fell on the 
 boy's shoulder " you want to do the right thing 
 now, don't you to be ' square,' as you say, in 
 every way ? " 
 
 " Uh-huh," Kelly assented, but doubtfully, for 
 anxiety was growing in his eyes, and the other 
 boys pushed forward, their eyes too anxious and 
 uncertain. 
 
 Bryan went on, " You know well that I want 
 every one of you boys in this crusade I can't 
 willingly spare one of you. But just because our 
 crusade is a battle for the right, I can't let you 
 do anything, even for that, which is not right; 
 and, Kelly, it isn't right for you to come here 
 when your father has forbidden it. You owe 
 him obedience." 
 
 On Kelly's freckled face intense disgust was 
 growing. "Owe him?" he muttered incredu- 
 lously. " I don't owe him nothin' that ol' man 
 o' mine. I earns me own bread an' butter, an' I 
 helps wid the rent, too. He spends his wages 
 down to Sullivan's an' the other s'loons I don't 
 owe him nothin'!" he repeated, yet with an evi- 
 dent anxiety in his voice. " An' if you shut me 
 out o' the crusade, just 'cause of what he says,
 
 284 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 I'll " He shook his head threateningly and 
 
 was silent, turning his face suddenly away from 
 Bryan, and kicking at a crack in the floor with 
 his bare foot. 
 
 " Look here, Kelly " Bryan's hand was still 
 on the boy's shoulder " you can't think I want to 
 shut out one of my boys ! You don't know what 
 you boys are to me if you can believe that for a 
 single moment. And you are not going to be 
 shut out, only " with a sudden inspiration " I 
 think you are going to be promoted put on the 
 honour list all of you three." 
 
 " Wat ye mean, brother ? " Jack voiced the 
 question that the eyes of the other two were 
 dumbly asking. 
 
 " I've told you about the medals of honour 
 given for special acts of bravery you remem- 
 ber ? " The three heads nodded as one. " Well, 
 I'm going to assign you three to the hardest duty 
 of this crusade." Kelly's head was up again at 
 that, his eyes glowing; but the glow faded as 
 Bryan went on, " The hardest duty of a soldier 
 isn't risking his life in some fierce battle, don't 
 you know that? In the heat and excitement of 
 the fight, that is not hard to a brave man. The 
 hard thing is the being absolutely faithful to the 
 dull everyday duties between the battles doing 
 those dull, tiresome duties faithfully in camp, 
 when his comrades are winning rank and hon- 
 our in battle that's the hardest thing for a 
 soldier." 
 
 The three boyish faces were very anxious now,
 
 BRYAN'S KNIGHTS 285 
 
 and a shadow of bitter disappointment was creep- 
 ing over every one. 
 
 " Ye mean 'at we've got ter be out of it all ? " 
 Kelly questioned, a heart-breaking anxiety in 
 eyes and voice. 
 
 " I hope not, Kelly ; but this is what I mean. 
 I have no right to allow you, or any other boy, 
 to come here when his father has forbidden it. 
 But though your fathers may make you stay away 
 from here, they cannot prevent your really hav- 
 ing a share in the ' crusade ' and helping a deal 
 to make it a success, even though you do not, for 
 a while I hope it will be for only a little while 
 come here to the meetings. You'll belong just 
 the same, and indeed, more than ever; for, as I 
 said, I shall put you on the honour list of those 
 who are doing the hardest part of the fighting, 
 for you will be fighting your own desires and in- 
 clinations, and standing firm against temptation. 
 If your fathers are not willing that you should 
 wear the white flag, you can put it out of sight, 
 but in your hearts you will be wearing it in your 
 hearts you will be helping us in the crusade 
 perhaps helping even more than if you came here 
 with the other boys. You will be working for 
 the crusade whenever you speak to any one about 
 it. I shouldn't wonder if you three should win 
 for the cause more recruits than anybody else will 
 win. And listen, boys, I shall have a white flag 
 hung right there on the wall across the stars and 
 stripes. It will be the Honour Roll of the Cru- 
 sade, and your three names shall head that list,
 
 S86 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 so that all the other boys will know that you are 
 still working with us that your hearts are with 
 us, even if you cannot be." 
 
 The three young faces were brighter now ; but 
 suddenly Jack snuffled: 
 
 " 'N' what'll -we do the nights the rest of 'em is 
 here?" he demanded, in a dismal tone. 
 
 " That's it what? " Tim Nolan confirmed him 
 with prompt emphasis. 
 
 " You three can have a meeting of your own, 
 perhaps, or you may be drumming up recruits, 
 or talking up the benefits of a recreation park 
 here on Sabin Street to people not yet interested 
 in it. You " 
 
 " Aw, shucks ! I want ter be in the fight! " the 
 third boy Nick Myers burst out suddenly. 
 "Talkin'! What's that!" 
 
 " Jest talkin'," echoed Jack Kelly dismally, his 
 brows drawn together in a scowl. 
 
 " An' we can't work no more in the shop 
 neither," put in Tim Nolan. " An' I was goin' 
 to make one of them little tables for my sister. I 
 told her I would." 
 
 " I'm sorry, Nolan, but I think your father will 
 give in after a while. I'm pretty sure he will'. I 
 wonder now if you fellows wouldn't like 
 me to tell you a bit of news. I've not told 
 it to any of the boys yet, but if you three 
 are to head the Honour List you are, aren't 
 you?" 
 
 Silence, while the clock ticked maybe ten 
 times; then Kelly answered for himself:
 
 BRYAN'S KNIGHTS 287 
 
 " It's me for the Honour List then," but he 
 ended with a long sigh. 
 
 " Good, Kelly your name shall go first," said 
 Bryan. " And you, Nolan ? " 
 
 " I guess so," doubtfully. 
 
 Bryan shook his head. " ' Guess so ' won't do 
 in this crusade. How about you, Myers? Do 
 you go after Kelly ? " 
 
 Myers flung up his head, his eyes snapping. 
 " I do that ! " he said with decision. 
 
 Then the two turned and looked curiously at 
 Tim Nolan. He glanced from them to Bryan, 
 then he drew a long breath. " Me for third," he 
 declared slowly. 
 
 " Sure, Nolan ? You know you are per- 
 fectly free you needn't do this unless you 
 like. I don't want you to, unless you are 
 fully determined to stick it out," Bryan told 
 him. 
 
 " I'll stick," was the brief response to that, 
 which Kelly hastened to supplement with the as- 
 surance, " He'll do it now, brother. He don't 
 go back on his word don't Tim Nolan. An' 
 now, w'at's that secret ? " 
 
 "You'll keep it a secret until you hear of it 
 from some one else ? " 
 
 Again the three close-cropped heads nodded 
 as one, and three pairs of curious eyes watched 
 Bryan's face. 
 
 " Well, then, it is this. Some of the gentlemen 
 who are interested in our crusade have bought 
 the three-story brick house across the way here,
 
 288 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 and are going to fit it up at once for a " Neigh- 
 bourhood House " for men. That's what it is to 
 be called Neighbourhood House. There will 
 be a reading-room, with newspapers and maga- 
 zines, and we hope a small branch library, a bil- 
 liard-room, and a room for other games, like 
 checkers and chess, and a lunch-room, where 
 good hot coffee will be sold every evening for a 
 penny a cup, sandwiches for two cents, and 
 where a man can get something to drink which 
 will not harm him lemonade or soda water, 
 drinks ' the kind a man can't get drunk on.' 
 
 " You see," Bryan went on, " we know that in 
 such small homes as most of those in this neigh- 
 bourhood homes generally running over with 
 little children a man can't have a quiet, comfort- 
 able evening or Sunday. That is what drives 
 many of them to the saloons, where they can be 
 comfortable, and can smoke and talk with others. 
 Now, what do you think, boys will the men of 
 this neighbourhood men like your fathers, for 
 instance go to a place like that, or will they 
 still prefer the saloons ? " 
 
 " You goin' to let 'em smoke, ye say ? " de- 
 manded Kelly. 
 
 " Sure just as much as they like." 
 
 "Any preachin' meetin's an' such?" Nolan 
 questioned, with a wink at the others. 
 
 " Not a meeting, unless they themselves ar- 
 range or ask for it. There will be a room where 
 they can have lectures or meetings, if they want 
 them, or where they can have debates free
 
 BRYAN'S KNIGHTS 289 
 
 talks like what some of them, you know, have 
 had here in the fire room. That's all." 
 
 " I say, it'll be bully ! " Nick Myers declared 
 with emphasis. 
 
 " But do you think the men will see it in that 
 light? Do you, Kelly?" 
 
 Kelly slowly shook his head. " I dunno," 
 he replied. " Reckon they'll kind o' hang off, 
 first along, 'fraid o' bein' roped into something 
 pious, don't ye see ? But I guess mebbe ye'd get 
 'em after a while if the s'loons don't hold on to 
 'em too tight." Then reluctantly he added, with 
 a glance of which the wistfulness was not lost 
 on Bryan, " I s'pose, fellers, we got 'er go 
 now." 
 
 Bryan stood for a moment with his arms flung 
 over the shoulders of Kelly and Nolan, while his 
 warm smile included Myers, as he said, with that 
 note in his earnest voice that always touched 
 their hearts : 
 
 " Little brothers, I shall miss every one of you, 
 but I think it will not be for long, and I shall 
 know that you are true and loyal knights all the 
 while. I shall never doubt you for one moment. 
 I shall see that you are told about everything that 
 we do here, and I shall do my best to win your 
 fathers over, so that they may let you come back 
 to us. So it is just good-night and not good-by. 
 If I were you, I wouldn't go back across the 
 roofs, or, at any rate, if you do, I wish you would 
 tell your fathers that you came here, but that 
 you are not coming any more until they are will-
 
 290 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 ing that you should. That is what I'd do. Now, 
 good-night." 
 
 He held out his hand to each in turn ; then the 
 three slim, boyish figures filed out in silence ; only 
 at the door the last one, Kelly, paused for a 
 moment and looked back, a long wistful look, be- 
 fore he followed his comrades. 
 
 As the door the front door, not the back one 
 closed behind them, Marston growled, " Poor 
 little kids it's hard on them." 
 
 " Yes," returned Bryan, " but it is the kind of 
 hard that will make them grow if only they take 
 it the right way." 
 
 The next Tuesday night when the " knights " 
 came together to report progress and take counsel 
 with the big brother, Julius Perry sat with 
 Marston in the workroom of the latter. The 
 room was unlighted and the fire room, where the 
 boys were gathered, was lighted only by the fire 
 that flamed in the old fireplace. A penetrating 
 northeast wind, driving the rain against the win- 
 dows, made the fire a thing of comfort, and the 
 boys coming in wet and shivering (umbrellas 
 were rare luxuries on Sabin Street), gathered 
 eagerly about the hearth to warm their hands 
 and dry their clothes. By twos and threes they 
 came, till the room was full, and then, some 
 stretched on the floor before the hearth, and the 
 rest with chairs and benches drawn as close as 
 possible, they began to talk. 
 
 The two young men in the front room, un- 
 noticed in the shadows, could see and hear
 
 BRYAN'S KNIGHTS 291 
 
 clearly. Perry leaned forward, his eyes full of 
 keen interest in the picture, as the firelight, flash- 
 ing and flickering, brought into vivid relief 
 Bryan's plain, strong face, serious, but never sad, 
 and the homely, eager faces of the boys gathered 
 about him. Student of human nature as he was, 
 Julius Perry recognised these boys as types of 
 the poorer classes of a great city. There was 
 among them scarcely one face that did not show 
 plainly the marks of their sorrowful birthright of 
 sin and poverty with all that the union of these 
 two entails. These boys had been young hood- 
 lums, members of " gangs," in training for saloon, 
 and reform school, and penitentiary. Had been 
 but even Julius Perry could see that they were 
 not that now; that out of this rank soil of sin 
 and poverty something strong, and fine, and fair, 
 was growing. 
 
 Suddenly he leaned over and whispered in 
 Marston's ear, " Marston, you remember that the 
 Quakers claim to be led by an inner light? His 
 face there Bryan's reminds me of that. You 
 can imagine it is that kind of a light that glows 
 in his eyes and, by Jove, every face in that ragged 
 crowd seems to have caught the reflection 
 of it." 
 
 "If you'd tried for a week you couldn't have 
 hit it off better," Marston answered under his 
 breath. " I believe that's the literal truth, Perry. 
 There's something in that fellow that we others 
 haven't got. That is why those boys look up to 
 him as they do, and follow without question
 
 292 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 where he leads and he'll lead them far and 
 high." 
 
 Perry nodded. " But listen," he said, and not 
 anothei word did he speak, so anxious was he to 
 lose nothing of what was going on in the other 
 room. It was a curious discussion, different 
 from anything to which he had ever before 
 listened curious enough to hear such high pur- 
 poses and plans discussed in the rough and ready 
 vernacular of the street boy. The wonder of it 
 stirred Perry's heart and set his pulses dancing. 
 
 " The chivalry of the slums," he said to him- 
 self, and then, " My word, but they deserve a 
 good send-off, and if they don't get it, my name's 
 not Julius Perry. I'll crack the ice in the hearts 
 of some of the old fossils in this town to-morrow, 
 or my pen has lost its cunning." 
 
 But, by a peculiar chance, it happened that, 
 when Perry got back to the office that night, he 
 found a telegram calling him to the West, where 
 his father lay desperately ill, and he was off in 
 the first train he could catch. He wrote his story 
 of the meeting, however, on the train, as he 
 travelled it was easier so to pass the long 
 anxious hours of his journey and mailed it to 
 the office in the early morning. By another 
 strange chance that manuscript, though directed 
 in Perry's handwriting, which was clear and 
 plain as print, went astray, and was sidetracked 
 for a week ; and in that week events marched to 
 a climax on Sabin Street.
 
 XVII 
 THE CLIMAX 
 
 THERE came a dark night with low-lying 
 clouds and a high wind, but no rain. 
 Sabin Street, as usual, was brilliantly 
 lighted on every corner, for at each cross street 
 was one or two saloons. 
 
 At Green Tree House, the shops had closed as 
 usual at nine o'clock, and an hour later the old 
 house and the one next to it, now used also as a 
 shop, were dark and silent. The street was more 
 quiet than usual at that hour, but a few dark 
 figures were abroad, slouching noiselessly from 
 house to house, from corner to corner; and 
 eager and vindictive eyes kept watch of the 
 old house at Number 40 as distant church 
 clocks struck the hours eleven, twelve, one. 
 By one o'clock all the saloons were dark, 
 except two, where, behind red glass, lights 
 burned the whole night through ; and but for the 
 slow soft-footed prowlers of the night, and those 
 other dark figures now flitting like human bats, 
 from point to point, Sabin Street was deserted. 
 
 A little later, every sleeper in Green Tree 
 House was startled into wake fulness by the loud, 
 incessant ringing of the doorbell. Again and 
 293
 
 294 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 again it was jerked, until the wire broke, and the 
 old-fashioned glass knob came off in the im- 
 patient hand that clutched it, as the bell made 
 one last discordant jangling peal, and then fell 
 silent. But now the impatient hands were beat- 
 ing and pounding on the door. 
 
 " Oh, what is it ? What is the matter ? " Mar- 
 jorie cried, as she joined Mrs. Knowles, who, in 
 the darkness, was nervously fumbling for the 
 gas-pull. 
 
 " It must be somebody is sick, and they've sent 
 for Theodore or me," Mrs. Knowles returned, as 
 the light flashed up. " There, Theodore is going 
 to the door now. Isn't somebody calling fire ? " 
 Pulling her wrapper around her, she opened the 
 door into the hall and listened, unconsciously 
 sniffing for the smell of burning wood. In a 
 moment she looked back and called to the girl, 
 " Yes, there is a fire, Marjorie. I heard some 
 one say that the house next to the new shop 
 is burning. You'd better dress as quickly as 
 you can, and wake Elizabeth. It sounds as if the 
 street were full of people." 
 
 " I'm 'wake now," piped Elizabeth from her 
 room. " I'm most dressed a'ready." 
 
 " Where is the fire, Theodore ? " Mrs. Knowles 
 questioned, as Bryan, admitting two boys, shut 
 and bolted the hall door after them. " Did they 
 say 'twas next to your shop? " 
 
 " Yes. Pick up quickly what you care most to 
 save, and see that everybody in the house is ready 
 to get out if the fire reaches us," he answered,
 
 THE CLIMAX 295 
 
 scarcely pausing on his way to the yard. " I'm 
 going to do what I can with the hose," he flung 
 back as he ran. 
 
 Mrs. Knowles turned to find Marjorie hastily 
 flinging on her clothes, while Elizabeth struggled 
 frantically with a knotted shoestring. 
 
 " I heard," Marjorie said. " I'll help you in a 
 minute, Elizabeth." 
 
 Down in the yard, Bryan, as he hastily got out 
 the hose and screwed it in place, was flinging 
 rapid questions at Black Jim, who had been the 
 first to bring the warning. 
 
 " 'Twas Jack Kelly gave me a hint yesterday," 
 Jim explained. " He found Tony an' sent him to 
 tell me to keep a sharp eye on Joe Veery an' 
 Billy Hodges to-night. So Tony an' me 
 tracked 'em. He tagged Billy an' I watched 
 Veery, but I guess Veery caught on to my 
 game, for he managed to slip me 'bout an 
 hour ago, an' I didn't know what to do. Then 
 I came across Tony tryin' to hold Billy Hodges. 
 Said he'd caught him sneakin' round this way 
 with some greasy rags an' light truck. Then we 
 were pretty sure that they meant to start a fire 
 here. I gave Billy the worst lickin' he ever had, 
 but we let him go when we saw the blaze over 
 there. Veery must have set that, an' I guess 
 likely Billy's job was to set another right here." 
 
 " Over there," was in the small brick house 
 next but one to Green Tree House, and adjoin- 
 ing Bryan's new shop. Already the windows of 
 the lower floor were a-glow from the leaping
 
 296 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 flames inside, but as yet the fire had not burst 
 through roof or walls. It had evidently been 
 set inside. While Jim rapidly told his story, he 
 was helping Bryan get the long hose in place, 
 and in a very few minutes a stream of water was 
 playing over the shop, but so small a stream was 
 wholly inadequate to the need. It was quite 
 useless to try to save the house already burning 
 they did not attempt that. 
 
 " Is that house vacant ? " Bryan asked sud- 
 denly. 
 
 " Folks moved out late last night I saw 'em," 
 the second boy, Tom Brown, volunteered. 
 
 " Ah ! " Bryan began to understand. He 
 spoke to Jim. " You turned in an alarm, you say. 
 Why on earth isn't the engine here by now ? " 
 
 " Ought to a-been long before this I don't see 
 why," returned Jim. " There go the windows." 
 
 There was a crackling of glass as the flames 
 burst through and blazed higher, flooding the 
 yard with a lurid light. Bryan caught a glimpse 
 of anxious faces looking down from the win- 
 dows above him in a fraction of a second he 
 saw them all huddled together Mrs. Knowles, 
 and Marjorie, and Elizabeth. He even saw Duf- 
 fer's yellow head, and heard his shrill, excited 
 barking as he tried to scramble out of Elizabeth's 
 arms and at another window he saw old Mrs. 
 Crum and her daughter, and the frightened faces 
 of the two pale shop-girls. Again he spoke 
 rapidly to Jim. 
 
 "If this was set as you think, it may be part of
 
 THE CLIMAX 297 
 
 a well-laid plan. Probably, in that case, the fire 
 alarm has been tampered with wire cut, per- 
 haps, to keep the engines off. You go turn in an 
 alarm at the next place Green Street. Go quick 
 as your feet will take you, Jim, but not 
 through Sabin Street you might be stopped by 
 that crowd out front. Go through the fence here 
 and through Maggie Presley's place, and quick, 
 Jim every second counts." 
 
 " And you, Tom. You streak it to Helm 
 House and tell Mr. Marston the fix we're in. 
 He'll know what to do. Follow Jim that way." 
 
 As Tom darted off, Bryan found Marjorie 
 standing by his side. 
 
 " Let me help you, Theodore," she said, her 
 voice very quiet and steady, though in the glow 
 of the mounting flames her dark eyes shone out 
 of a colourless face. " Please," she urged, " I 
 want to help." 
 
 " Child," he said, all unconscious of what his 
 eyes and his voice were revealing, " there is noth- 
 ing you can do ; only be ready to leave the house 
 when I tell you, and I'm afraid that will be 
 very soon. Oh, if you had only gone before ! " 
 
 "We are all ready, but I'd much rather be 
 helping. I'm not a bit afraid," she urged. 
 
 " No, I see you're not," he returned, and 
 realising that it would lessen the strain for her if 
 she could be doing something, he added, " Run 
 back and tell Mrs. Knowles to get out all her 
 quilts and blankets. We'll put them on the roof 
 and out the windows here and soak them. It
 
 298 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 will protect the house a little longer, till the 
 engines get here, perhaps if they ever do," he 
 added under his breath. 
 
 At that instant from the street in front there 
 rose on the night air a strange, hoarse, bellowing 
 sound, like the cry of some great savage beast 
 eager for its prey. 
 
 " Oh, what is that? " The girl's face blanched 
 to a deadly whiteness and she shuddered, as her 
 terrified eyes repeated the question of her trem- 
 bling lips. 
 
 Theodore Bryan knew what that sound meant 
 he had heard its like before, but never with 
 the anguish of dread that shook him now not 
 for himself, but for this girl looking up at him 
 with wide, startled, wondering eyes. 
 
 " My God ! " he muttered under his breath. 
 " It's a mob out there." The next instant he had 
 himself in hand and was speaking quietly. 
 
 " Miss Marjorie, you must go through to Mag- 
 gie's and stay there. Tell her to keep her doors 
 fastened. Stop! Promise me that you'll stay 
 there promise, Marjorie ! " 
 
 Something in his face, his voice, compelled her 
 obedience. " I will," she breathed, turning 
 instantly away, but paused to ask, " Mother 
 Knowles and Elizabeth ?" 
 
 " I'll send them right after you. Go quickly 
 for your life, Marjorie ! " 
 
 She lifted her white face for an instant to his, 
 as from the street came again that strange, hoarse 
 roar, bearing its deadly menace, which she feared,
 
 THE CLIMAX 299 
 
 without understanding why then, without an- 
 other word, she ran swiftly across the yard and 
 through the gate in the fence to the other house, 
 where Maggie, white and shaken with terror, 
 clutched at her with trembling hands and drew 
 her hastily within. 
 
 And Bryan, dropping the hose, dashed into the 
 house, stopping for a moment only to send Mrs. 
 Knowles and the others after Marjorie; then he 
 flung open the front door and, stepping out, closed 
 it behind him, and stood upon the landing of the 
 high steps, looking down upon the crowding 
 throng that filled the street as far as he could see 
 in either direction. It was a sight to make the 
 bravest heart sink, that mass of humanity 
 humanity of the lowest gathered there, as he 
 knew well, for his undoing. Just as he stepped 
 out, the fire flamed up like a great torch into the 
 black sky, casting a livid reflection over the sea 
 of faces, and seeming to intensify the evil lines 
 that evil lives had graven on them. As the 
 flames streamed upward, cheers and yells of de- 
 light broke from hundreds of throats, and Bryan 
 shuddered at the sound as his swift glance swept 
 over the upturned faces. There were many that 
 he knew some that he knew were his bitter en- 
 emies many that were strange to him. Here 
 and there, he saw the face of one whom he had 
 counted friendly. Some were hard and stolid 
 faces, showing an impersonal sort of enjoyment 
 in the occasion, some bitter, exulting, vindictive ; 
 but the reflections from the leaping flames seemed
 
 300 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 to bring them all into a sinister and terrible har- 
 mony a harmony of evil. 
 
 All this he took in in one swift, sweeping 
 glance ; then he found himself looking down into 
 a score of young, eager faces, crowding close 
 about him, all beaming with love and loyalty, 
 while a rough voice at his ear was saying: 
 
 " We's all here, brother we'll keep 'em back." 
 
 It was Paddy Mack, pressing close to his side 
 Mack, with his broad Irish face no longer a-light 
 with mischief. To-night his wide mouth was set 
 grim and hard, his eyes glowing with angry de- 
 termination. " We's all here all the knights," 
 he hurried on, " an' thim ugly divils down there 
 won't get in this house 'thout they walks in over 
 us." 
 
 Yes, they were all there. Bryan's eyes soft- 
 ened as they went from one lifted face to 
 another. The boys crowded the old-fashioned 
 steps, a solid phalanx from house to railing. All 
 who could not get a foothold on the steps were 
 ranged in a double line before the basement 
 windows where, eyes alert and defiant, and hard, 
 boyish fists clenched, they stood a valiant guard 
 against the shouting, cursing, threatening mob of 
 which, a year before, they would themselves have 
 been a part. 
 
 The eyes of the multitude had been held for a 
 moment by the great torch of flame leaping up- 
 ward from the doomed house, but now suddenly 
 some one caught sight of Bryan, and yelled and 
 pointed at him, and instantly the crowd surged
 
 THE CLIMAX 301 
 
 towards him, while once again broke forth that 
 deep hoarse roar of the street mob, a sound 
 threatening, exultant, horrible once heard, 
 never to be forgotten. 
 
 As Bryan stepped forward and tried to speak, 
 there broke forth a perfect pandemonium of 
 shouts, yells, curses, threats, and howls a de- 
 mon-chorus that blanched the faces of the valiant 
 little knights themselves, used as they were to 
 the mad frenzies of the streets. 
 
 What should he do? For one brief minute 
 Bryan hesitated. He might draw in the boys 
 nearest the door and then hold that howling mob 
 at bay, possibly, until Teddy could bring help; 
 but he could not let in all the boys without 
 scores of hoodlums crowding in with them. To 
 go back himself and leave the boys was not to be 
 thought of, though every second made him more 
 wildly anxious to take Marjorie and Mrs. 
 Knowles to a place of safety. 
 
 If they would but listen to him! Once more 
 he tried to speak when, for a second, the howling 
 ceased; but at the first word a fresh storm of 
 vituperation broke forth, and from somewhere in 
 the shadows a brick was flung ; but it fell short of 
 the steps, and raised a storm of protest from 
 somebody in the street on whose head it landed. 
 For a moment, while he stood there, facing that 
 Inferno of human passion, Theodore Bryan was 
 overwhelmed by a sense of his own helplessness, 
 and for the first time in his life, terror caught at 
 his heart, but only for a moment. The next, he
 
 302 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 could have laughed at his fears. The Power 
 that led, could protect him even in such an hour 
 as this. He smiled into the faces of his boys 
 his young knights standing firm, even with 
 quaking hearts and trembling knees, as they 
 faced that pack of human beasts. 
 
 " It's all right, boys ; there'll be help along 
 presently," he said, in a low steady voice ; and at 
 that, the faces of the boys lost something of their 
 strained anxiety, though one of them shook his 
 head and muttered, " Got to come mighty quick, 
 brother." 
 
 "Look there it is coming," Bryan cried out 
 joyously; and the boys straightened up and ex- 
 changed glances of relief as a fire-engine whirled 
 into the street. At the warning clang of its gong, 
 the dense mass of human beings, crowding back 
 upon each other, somehow made way for the en- 
 gine, but it came slowly when every second 
 counted for so much. Had the wind been blow- 
 ing towards Green Tree House, nothing could 
 have saved it. As it was, the building between 
 the new shop had now caught fire. Full of 
 dry wood and furniture as it was, it would burn 
 like a furnace unless the fire could be checked, 
 and then there would be small chance of saving 
 Green Tree House. 
 
 " Say there's somethin' fishy 'bout that. 
 Never seen a fire-engine crawl like that one, did 
 ye, eh ? " a sharp-eyed boy muttered, nudging the 
 one next to him. 
 
 Bryan had noticed and wondered over that;
 
 THE CLIMAX 
 
 but at last the engine did reach the space in front 
 of the burning house, and the firemen connected 
 the hose with the hydrant. Another moment, 
 and a stream of water was playing upon the 
 building, momentarily deadening the flames; but 
 even as a shrill shout of exultation and rejoicing 
 went up from the boys on the steps, the flow of 
 water abruptly ceased, and the fire blazed up 
 with fresh vigour. 
 
 " Wat in thunder's the matter now ? " mut- 
 tered Mack, straining his eyes towards the en- 
 gine. 
 
 " Hose cut ! Hose cut ! " The word passed 
 from lip to lip and, as it passed, it was followed 
 by a roar of savage, taunting laughter from the 
 seething multitude in the street, and then a storm 
 of jeers, and shouts, and threats was flung at 
 Bryan as he stood on the steps among his boys. 
 It was as if the mob, sure now of its prey, was 
 content to stand off and await the destruction of 
 the old house that was the heart and centre of 
 Bryan's work. 
 
 " And not a policeman in sight, in a mob like 
 this ! " Bryan muttered, his eyes searching 
 anxiously for blue coat and helmet. 
 
 " Huh ! Don't ye see ? " Mack's quick ears 
 had caught the low-spoken words. " It's a put- 
 up job that's w'at this is. They've fixed the 
 cops an' firemen both. Say ! " Again he spoke 
 close to Bryan's ear. " Say, brother, you bet it 
 took a pile o' money to do this job, 'n' we know 
 where de money come from, too ! "
 
 304 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 " Yes, sir-ee, we do ! " chimed in another. 
 " The whiskey-folks is payin' fer this show. 
 They cleared the people out o' them two houses 
 after dark last night see ? " He pointed to the 
 burning buildings beyond the shop, for a second 
 was blazing now. 
 
 Bryan hastily singled out two of the most 
 trusty of the boys on the steps. " Here," he said, 
 " I'll open this door a bit presently and you two 
 slip through and use the hose in the yard it's 
 all ready. Keep this house as wet as you can, 
 and maybe you can keep down the blaze in the 
 shop a little. I must stay here." 
 
 Proud to be singled out for special service, 
 though at the same time loth to miss anything 
 that might happen here in front, the boys twisted 
 their slim bodies through the narrowest of cracks ; 
 and then Bryan closed the door again and waited 
 with what patience he could, for the help that 
 seemed so terribly slow in coming. Would it 
 could it now, come in time? Over and over 
 that question repeated itself in his mind as he 
 waited through minutes that seemed eternities. 
 
 And meantime Jim, running as he had never 
 run before, had reached the nearest fire-alarm, 
 and then gone on to another and another. Hfe 
 would take no chances. So three times he 
 sent forth his urgent call, not knowing whether 
 or no the lines were working ; then he stopped at 
 a public telephone and called yet another com- 
 pany. This time he got an answer, and with a
 
 THE CLIMAX 305 
 
 great sobbing breath he shouted, " Fire on Sabin 
 Street near Green Tree House. Somebody's 
 been monkeying with the alarms an' no engine's 
 got there. Go quicker'n lightning quick, I tell 
 ye!" 
 
 Then hoping against hope that some of his 
 other calls might already have been answered, 
 Jim dashed back through the dark streets. At 
 Maggie's door he beat frantically with his fists 
 until it was opened to him, and then he plunged 
 through to Green Tree House, where he worked 
 like a dozen boys, instead of one, spreading 
 quilts and blankets over the roof of the house and 
 hanging them from the windows to protect the 
 back and side of the house, while the boys below 
 kept them wet with the hose. Jim did his part 
 valiantly that night, and all the time he carried in 
 his sore heart the dark suspicion that his 
 own father was a leader in that night's black 
 business. 
 
 And while Jim was sending out his calls, Tom 
 Brown had been no less faithfully doing his part. 
 Tom found Helm House dark and silent, but his 
 fusilade with the old iron knocker speedily 
 aroused not only all the inmates of that house, 
 but those of half the others on the square as 
 well. Little Tom cared for that, however; and, 
 when the door was opened, he stopped not for 
 parley. 
 
 " Mr. Teddy Mr. Marston I want him 
 quick. Where's his room?" he demanded, and 
 following the directions hastily given, went
 
 306 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 stumbling noisily up the dark stairs. Marston, 
 awakened by the imperative summons at the door 
 below, had heard the enquiry for him, and met 
 Tom on the landing. A swift interchange of 
 question and answer followed, and then Marston 
 was downstairs, sending a peremptory call to 
 the fire chief. 
 
 " That fire on Sabin Street is threatening 
 Green Tree House, and there's trouble besides. 
 Better get as much help down there as you can 
 and as quickly as you can," he urged, and then 
 called up the captain of police, who knew Bryan 
 well. 
 
 "There's trouble on Sabin Street at Green 
 Tree House," he repeated. " Bryan needs 
 help as quickly as you can get it to him needs 
 it badly. Seems to be a big mob down there, 
 ripe for mischief. There's not a minute to lose. 
 Yes, it's Marston I'm going right over there 
 myself." 
 
 " 111 go straight down in the auto," was the 
 instant response of the captain, and Marston 
 heard the clatter of the receiver as it was hung 
 up. 
 
 Tom Brown had disappeared the moment his 
 message was delivered, pelting back through the 
 dark streets as Jim had done, towards Green 
 Tree House, and in five minutes Marston was 
 following him with . the half-dozen men who 
 lived at Helm House Settlement. Tom had told 
 him he could not get through the mob in Sabin 
 Street, so he went through Maggie's house, stop-
 
 THE CLIMAX 307 
 
 ping only a moment for a brief word with his 
 cousin and Mrs. Knowles before he dashed 
 through the two yards. In the second, the boys 
 were doing their best with the garden hose, 
 keeping the blankets saturated, and the roof 
 streaming with water. Two of the men stayed 
 to help there. The others followed Teddy 
 through the house. Bryan whirled around as 
 the door behind him opened, his face lighting 
 up at sight of these good friends. 
 
 " I knew you'd come, Teddy," he said quietly, 
 and Marston, gripping his friend's hand hard, re- 
 turned as quietly : 
 
 " Of course," his quick eyes taking in the 
 whole scene in one flashing glance, and resting 
 on the idle engine, with its pile of glowing cinders 
 underneath, like a reflection in miniature of the 
 flames sweeping heavenward. 
 
 "Well, if that isn't the limit!" he exclaimed. 
 " Gad, I'd like to take a club to those fellows 
 down there. Why aren't they fighting that fire ? " 
 
 " The hose has been cut twice, they say," 
 Bryan explained. " Somebody doesn't want the 
 fire put out, Teddy." 
 
 "Well, of all the " Marston stopped, 
 
 words failing him. He cast an anxious glance at 
 the shop, where already the fire had gained a 
 foothold, and muttered between set teeth, 
 " Where is that fire chief ! " Then" Ah ! " he 
 cried, with a long breath of satisfaction, as a 
 great stream of water suddenly poured over the 
 shop from the rear.
 
 308 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 " Gee ! The'll be somethin' doin' now ! " yelled 
 an excitable youngster perched on the railing. 
 " De fire chief see ? " He pointed a triumphant 
 finger down the street, where the clattering gong 
 gave warning. This was no slow and loitering 
 advance like that of the engine that had preceded 
 it. The chief's auto cut its swift, unswerving 
 way straight through the dense mass of hu- 
 manity, that was forced to make way for it or 
 suffer the consequences. Beside the idle engine 
 the auto stopped and the chief sprang out, his 
 stern voice ringing out sharp, rapid questions to 
 the cringing company captain, whose red face 
 lost some of its colour as he answered: 
 
 " We couldn't do nothin' in this mob," he ex- 
 plained, vainly trying not to cower under the look 
 in the chief's blazing eyes. " They cut the hose 
 twice, 'n' there we were, 'n' we expected every 
 minute some other engines would be here." 
 
 The chief glared at him. "You hound!" he 
 cried, then flung out swift, peremptory orders to 
 the men, who sprang to execute them. " Number 
 7 is back there on Green Street. One of you cut 
 over there and send the hose-cart round here 
 quick! And clear the street don't you see that 
 wall's going to fall presently? Get to work, d'ye 
 hear? If they won't fall back, club 'em till they 
 do. Ah, here comes Number 9. You, Slocum," 
 he called to the captain of the first company, who 
 was trying to slink away into the crowd, " you 
 come back here. There'll be a reckoning with 
 you for this night's work."
 
 THE CLIMAX 309 
 
 " Huh ! " Slocum flung an insolent glance at 
 his superior. " I'm out of it I turned in me 
 resignation yesterday, an' I'll take no more back 
 talk from you ! " he retorted. 
 
 " Put him under arrest ! " shouted the chief. 
 " Smith, I'll hold you responsible for him." 
 
 All this had passed in a few swift seconds, and 
 now a second engine began to play over the shop, 
 which by this time was blazing fiercely. Green 
 Tree House, too, was deluged, and as there was 
 a narrow space between that and the burning 
 shop, Bryan and his friends began to hope that 
 the old house would be saved after all. 
 
 Suddenly, from the steps, a shrill voice yelled 
 triumphantly, " Hi-i-i ! Soldiers a-comin' sol- 
 diers ! " and every boy strained his eyes to 
 see. 
 
 " 'Tain't soldiers, neither it's de cops ! " an- 
 other cried, and half a dozen voices confirmed 
 that statement. " The cops ! The cops ! The 
 COPS ! " 
 
 " Thank Heaven ! " muttered Marston fer- 
 vently. " They're none too soon." For the 
 small force of the fire chief was having much 
 difficulty in driving back the close-packed multi- 
 tude, that resisted holding its ground sullenly 
 and stubbornly. But it was different when that 
 body of blue coats, led by the chief, reached the 
 scene. Clubs were used without ceremony on 
 those who would not fall back promptly, and 
 many a black eye and many a sore head were 
 carried away as souvenirs of the occasion. In
 
 310 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 a short time the street was cleared, or so the 
 officers thought. They had overlooked a dark 
 figure hidden under an old wagon-body in the 
 vacant lot opposite Green Tree House a figure 
 that crouched there, watching with malignant, 
 bloodshot eyes the group on the steps of the 
 old house. The door was open now, and the 
 boys who had so faithfully guarded the basement 
 windows were crowding up the steps, and with 
 them came Bennie Hoyt and a tall young fellow, 
 whose eyes were shining with excitement. 
 
 " Bennie I didn't know you were here ! " 
 Bryan cried, his hand dropping on the other's 
 shoulder in the old brotherly fashion. " How 
 did you know what was going on ? " 
 
 "I can't tell how, Theo?" Bennie answered 
 gravely. " I couldn't sleep, and I kept thinking 
 of you until I just had to get up and come over ; 
 and on the way I met Tom here, and he came 
 with me." 
 
 Bryan nodded to the young fellow taking him 
 for a college friend of Bennie's, whom he had 
 met before. 
 
 "If there was anything lively going on, I 
 wanted to have a hand in it, you know," Tom ex- 
 plained with a laugh, that faded suddenly as he 
 glanced down the street. " Looks to me as if 
 that fire was getting away from them," he 
 added. 
 
 The wind had risen, and was blowing hard 
 now, driving the flames before it. On the op- 
 posite side of the street there was a row of old
 
 THE CLIMAX 311 
 
 frame houses, and the fire leaping across the 
 narrow space had gotten a foothold there. 
 
 " Those old shanties will burn like tinder," 
 Marston said. 
 
 " Couldn't we help down there where they're 
 bringing out goods ? " Bennie questioned, but 
 Bryan shook his head. 
 
 " The firemen wouldn't let you. They'll do 
 all that can be done ; but there!! be a lot of home- 
 less creatures after this night's work." He 
 turned to one of the boys and sent him through 
 to Maggie's house to tell Mrs. Knowles that she 
 might safely return to her own quarters. 
 
 " She'll be gathering in those poor souls yonder 
 to feed and comfort them," he added, his eyes 
 lingering pitifully on the groups of forlorn 
 women and children crouching in the middle of 
 the street, among the little they had been able to 
 save from the swift flames that were sweeping 
 out of existence the wretched tenements that had 
 sheltered them. 
 
 " I think our troubles are over for to-night," 
 Bryan said, a smile in his tired eyes as he looked 
 down at his boys. " I " 
 
 At that instant the lurking creature with the 
 bloodshot eyes rose suddenly from the shadow 
 of the old wagon across the street, a broken brick 
 flew straight at the tall figure on the steps, and 
 with the smile still on his lips, Theodore Bryan 
 fell across the threshold of the old house. 
 
 For one terrible, shocked instant, no one moved. 
 Then, with a heart-broken cry, Bennie stooped
 
 312 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 and lifted Bryan's head, looking up dumbly for 
 help as he did so. Very tenderly they carried the 
 still figure into the house become, in that swift 
 fraction of time, a house of mourning. Mrs. 
 Knowles at once took charge of the sickroom, 
 and two boys set off on the run for a doctor, 
 while the others, their interest in the fire for- 
 gotten, waited in deep anxiety. Bennie sat be- 
 side the bed, silent and motionless, his face white 
 and drawn, his blue eyes full of misery. In the 
 next room, Marston and the other men waited, 
 and across the hall Marjorie Armstrong sat alone 
 until Elizabeth a frightened, white- faced Eliza- 
 beth crept softly in and begged in a whisper to 
 be allowed to stay. 
 
 " It's so awful lonesome," the child said, 
 choking over the words. 
 
 The boys had slipped down into the fire room, 
 where across the stars and stripes hung the white 
 flag, with the names of Kelly, Nolan, and Myers 
 at the head, but though all of them were there, 
 the place seemed strangely empty, lacking the one 
 of whom their thoughts were full. Mack, Tom 
 Brown, Tony Trudo, and the others were there 
 all except Jim. They missed him after a 
 while, and wondered much at his absence, for 
 they knew that he had been the first to give the 
 alarm, and that he had been with them on the 
 steps when Bryan fell. They were tired and 
 worn, these boys. They had had no sleep, and 
 had been under the strain of fierce excitement, 
 and in no small danger and they needed food
 
 THE CLIMAX 813 
 
 and rest; but not one of them thought of going 
 away until their great dread should be either re- 
 moved or confirmed. The big brother who had 
 opened to them a new world the man who had 
 taught them the meaning of love and service 
 was he to leave them now ? 
 
 It seemed very long before the doctor came, 
 though really it was but a few minutes, and then 
 there was another endless waiting for his verdict. 
 And when it came, it did not answer the 
 question that meant so much to the boys. Bryan 
 was living, and while there was life there was 
 hope that was all the comfort the doctor could 
 give them ; but he looked with a curious interest 
 into the rough homely faces as the boys crowded 
 about him when he came out of the house, and 
 questioned him with eyes full of anxiety and 
 trouble. The doctor was a stranger who knew 
 little of Bryan and the work he had been doing 
 here. 
 
 " You seem to care a great deal about him," he 
 said, thinking, as he spoke, that he had never be- 
 fore seen such boys as these, with such a common 
 anxiety in their eyes. 
 
 "Care for him? Care for brother! If we 
 
 didn't " It was rough Irish Mack who broke 
 
 out impetuously, but found himself unable to 
 finish his sentence. He turned his face suddenly 
 aside, nor thought to be ashamed that, for the 
 first time since he could remember, his eyes were 
 wet with tears. 
 
 The doctor went away, and the boys lingered
 
 314 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 idly on the sidewalk, where they had waylaid 
 him, and looked sorrowfully up at the windows 
 of Bryan's room, or, with but little interest, 
 watched the firemen still battling with the fire 
 further down the street in the grey light of the 
 early morning. Then suddenly Mar j one stood 
 among them. Her face was very white, and 
 there were shadowy circles under her eyes, but 
 she tried to smile as she gave her message : 
 
 " You mustn't go away tired and hungry, boys. 
 Come back to the fire room, and Maggie and I 
 will get some breakfast for you as quickly as we 
 can." 
 
 The boys exchanged doubtful and questioning 
 glances. It didn't seem right, somehow, for them 
 to accept the invitation. 
 
 "I I guess we ain't hungry," Tom Brown 
 answered for them all. 
 
 But Marjorie insisted. " Please come. We 
 want to do this little for you, who have done so 
 much for us all here to-night," she urged. 
 
 So, in a heavy silence, they followed her back 
 to the fire room, and still in silence ate the hot 
 breakfast that she, with the help of Maggie and 
 Miss Slater, made ready for them. Then they 
 drifted out into the street again, some going to 
 their homes, some lingering to watch the firemen, 
 who by now were getting the fire under control. 
 It had been a very stubborn and difficult fire to 
 manage, the high wind sweeping the flames first 
 one way and then another, and carrying cinders 
 and bits of burning wood from house to house.
 
 THE CLIMAX 315 
 
 The new shop and all its contents were gone 
 only one side wall was still standing, but that 
 had served as a protection to Green Tree House. 
 The side wall of the latter was scorched and 
 blistered, but the old house had suffered little 
 other injury. The strong wind which had turned 
 the fire away from it, had swept the flames 
 fiercely down the block, destroying half a dozen 
 of the old brick houses before it suddenly leaped 
 across the narrow street and wiped out the row 
 of ancient frame tenements that reached to the 
 cross street. Now, when at last the firemen had 
 succeeded in checking it, a long line of blackened, 
 smoking ruins was all that remained between 
 Green Tree House and the cross street, and 
 dozens of families were homeless. 
 
 For a long time the boys stood idly looking 
 on and discussing the events of the past night, 
 wondering what this fire would mean to Sabfn 
 Street, and what it would mean to Green Tree 
 House, and the work there, should " Brother's " 
 life be ended. 
 
 " There's two saloons gone up, anyhow," one 
 remarked, and another added bitterly: 
 
 " Pity the rest didn't go wid 'em ! " 
 
 "If the fire had been set the other side o' 
 Green Tree House," remarked a third, "the' 
 wouldn't be a stick of it standin' now." 
 
 " Mighty queer, if 'twas set, that they didn't 
 start it on the other side," another added. 
 
 " The wind was blowin' the other way early in 
 the evenin'," put in Mack, "that's why 'twas
 
 316 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 started on this side. Then it changed right 
 around and blew great guns, too." 
 
 Tom Brown, standing with his hands in his 
 pockets, gloomily watching the dripping firemen 
 as they came from the last of the burnt buildings, 
 suddenly exclaimed, " It sure is mighty funny 
 what's become of Jim. Didn't any of ye see 
 him after that brick ? " He looked anx- 
 iously from face to face. 
 
 No, none of them had seen him after that, but 
 nobody had thought of any one but brother. 
 
 Tom continued, slowly and gravely, " He 
 
 thought brother " No one of them could 
 
 speak that word without choking over it now. 
 Tom began again " Jim thought he was all 
 right. It's powerful queer for him to clear out 
 so just when he's hurt." 
 
 " 'Tis so," one or two assented, and another 
 added, his eyes suddenly hard and threatening, 
 "If ever we find out who did heave that 
 
 brick " The gesture with which he ended 
 
 was full of meaning. 
 
 Tom's anxious eyes again swept over the sober 
 faces. " I be'n wonderin'," he said uneasily, " if 
 anything could 'a' happened to Jim. He was 
 standin' right side of me on the steps just before 
 that brick came, an' we ain't none of us seen him 
 since " 
 
 "You think mebbe he got a brickbat, too?" 
 somebody questioned, as they all gathered closer 
 about Tom. 
 
 He nodded. " That or somethin'. Joe Veery
 
 THE CLIMAX 317 
 
 might have done for him, ye know. He would if 
 he got the chance, 'cause he knows that Jim's 
 been after him." 
 
 " Yes, that's so," they all agreed, and then, as 
 by one impulse, they all turned and went slowly 
 back along the street. When they came to the 
 ruins of the shop they paused again; and then, 
 more slowly still, they passed to Green Tree 
 House, and lingered by the steps, speaking in 
 low tones, as if their voices might disturb him 
 of whom their thoughts were full. 
 
 It was Tony Trudo who suddenly pointed a 
 lean brown finger to the vacant lot across the 
 street. 
 
 " It come from there that brick," he said 
 briefly. " I seen it comin'." 
 
 " Yer right, Tony it must have. Somebody 
 hid behind that ol' wagon, most likely," another 
 agreed. 
 
 But Mack turned upon Tony fiercely. " Why 
 didn't ye tell us if ye seen so much?" he de- 
 manded. " We might 'a' caught him then an' 
 wrung his blasted neck f er him ! " 
 
 But Tony, looking quietly into the flushed, 
 angry face, answered only, " I didn't think of 
 anybody but him" with a gesture towards that 
 upper room where they all knew that the silent 
 figure was lying. 
 
 At that Mack subsided suddenly, but Tom 
 Brown, without a word, started across the street, 
 the others trailing aimlessly after him. What 
 they expected to find in the vacant let they could
 
 318 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 not have told, but certainly not what they did 
 find all that was mortal of Black Jim. He lay 
 there on the ground behind the old wagon, his 
 dark face quiet and peaceful, as it never had been 
 in life -only a bruise on the temple to tell how 
 quick and painless had been his passing. 
 
 The boys stood looking down at him in 
 shocked silence. It was Mack, whose warm Irish 
 heart covered a multitude of sins Mack, who 
 for the second time that morning found his 
 cheeks wet with tears. 
 
 " He was a good feller Jim," he muttered, 
 turning suddenly away. 
 
 But Tom Brown, stooping down, pointed 
 silently to Jim's right hand. It was tightly 
 clenched over a piece of dark plaid cloth of a 
 kind not much worn about Sabin Street. The 
 boyish faces darkened at sight of that cloth, and 
 a dozen voices muttered the name of Joe Veery. 
 
 " Yes," said Tom slowly, " don't you see ? It 
 was Joe Veery flung that brick. He'd sworn to 
 do for brother, an' he has. Jim must have seen 
 where the brick come from, an' run across here 
 when when he went down an' tried to hold 
 
 Joe, an' so " He flung out his hand towards 
 
 the still figure before them. 
 
 " An' what'll we do now ? " one questioned in 
 an awed whisper. 
 
 " You go over there " Tom pointed across 
 the street " an' tell Mr. Marston. He'll know 
 what to do." 
 
 The boy went swiftly without a word. In
 
 THE CLIMAX 319 
 
 silence the others waited, moved to the depths 
 of their young hearts by this sudden passing of 
 one of their number, and in such a way. 
 
 Marston and another man returned imme- 
 diately with the messenger. 
 
 " Poor lad," Marston said in a low tone, when 
 he had looked at the quiet face, laid his hand on 
 the still heart, and heard what the boys had to 
 tell, " he gave his life for his friend. We'll take 
 him over there. His brother would want it so." 
 
 And thus into that house where death was 
 waiting, they carried the one whom death had 
 already claimed.
 
 XVIII 
 THE RESULTS OF THE CRUSADE 
 
 TO the editor of one of the leading papers 
 of the city was handed that morning 
 an envelope containing the story which 
 Julius Perry, who was still absent in the West, 
 had written after the evening he had spent at 
 Green Tree House. This manuscript had been 
 sidetracked in some Western post-office and had 
 but just reached the newspaper office seven days 
 after it was posted. Perry had been deeply im- 
 pressed by what he had seen and heard that 
 night, and his vivid, graphic portrayal of it all 
 made a wonderfully interesting article, which so 
 absorbed the attention of the city editor that he 
 pushed impatiently aside another manuscript that 
 was brought to him by one of his assistants. 
 But when, having finished reading Perry's story, 
 he took up the other, the surprise in his eyes 
 kindled into sudden intense interest, and he 
 plunged into the reading of this with even 
 greater eagerness. When, finally, he flung both 
 articles across to another editor, he said: 
 
 " We are going to rouse the town to-night, 
 
 Johnson. Get out the biggest edition we can 
 
 run it will go like wildfire. Strange thing, too, 
 
 that Perry's story should have strayed so and 
 
 320
 
 reached us just at this particular time. Couldn't 
 have happened better possibly. Who is the 
 youngster that sent in this last story ? " 
 
 " It's young Brady son of Dennis," John- 
 son answered, his eyes glowing. 
 
 "What!" The chief turned and stared in- 
 credulously at his subordinate. " You don't 
 mean that he's Boss Brady's son ? " 
 
 " But I do," returned the other triumphantly. 
 " I told you the other day, when we printed 
 some of the stuff he sent in, that he'd make a 
 good newspaper-man if he stuck to it, and he will. 
 But this " he rapped the manuscript before him 
 " this coming from Boss Brady's son of 
 all men well, of course, you see what it will 
 mean." 
 
 "A fool could see that!" snapped the chief. 
 Then he added thoughtfully, " There's no telling 
 where this thing will end, but those who have 
 been working against Bryan down there in the 
 ninth ward, couldn't have done a worse thing 
 for their own side than they did with that brick 
 last night. Whether Bryan lives or dies now, 
 public sympathy will be with him, and his work 
 will be carried on. I shouldn't wonder if Boss 
 Brady's daws are trimmed for good in the old 
 ward he has carried in his pocket for so many 
 years." 
 
 " And by his own son ! " put in Johnson. 
 
 The chief threw back his head and laughed 
 gleefully. "Poetic justice!" he cried. "But 
 how on earth did it come about ? The youngster
 
 322 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 must have known that he was rapping his own 
 father when he wrote that." 
 
 "Maybe not," Johnson returned. "This 
 young Brady is a Harvard boy, classmate of my 
 nephew, Charlie Phillips, you know. The two 
 are great chums, and Charlie thinks that the 
 Boss doesn't talk politics with Tom keeps him 
 in the dark about well, a good many things." 
 
 " Oh, but, Johnson," the chief remonstrated, 
 " the young fellow must read the papers, and 
 they'd enlighten him. A chap bright enough 
 to write such an article as that, wouldn't be 
 so easily hoodwinked." 
 
 Johnson shook his head. " Anybody'd think 
 so, of course, but I guess young Tom is a warm- 
 hearted chap, and his father thinks the world 
 of him can't do too much for him. It's likely 
 he wouldn't believe what the papers say against 
 the old man takes it for political abuse, you 
 know newspaper lies. He probably knows only 
 the other side of his father, and Dennis isn't all 
 bad, by any means." 
 
 " Can't understand it," the chief returned, 
 shaking his head, " but anyhow, all that is no 
 concern of ours. The paper will sweep the town 
 to-night," he ended, with a chuckle, " and unless 
 I'm much mistaken there'll be big changes in 
 the old ninth ward after this night's work. 
 What fools they were to try on anything of this 
 sort simply brought about the very thing they 
 were fighting against that will be the upshot 
 of it."
 
 RESULTS OF THE CRUSADE 323 
 
 The chief editor was right. There was an 
 unprecedented demand for the paper that night, 
 and the next morning the city was ringing with 
 the affair. Green Tree House was overwhelmed 
 with offers of help, enquiries for Bryan, mes- 
 sages of sympathy. 
 
 And Jim, poor lad unknown and neglected 
 through the sixteen years of his life Jim was 
 counted a hero now. The little mission chapel 
 from which he was buried could not begin to 
 contain all who came, and never in his poverty- 
 bound life had Jim seen or touched such flowers 
 as heaped his coffin. The knights, each wearing 
 the little white flag on his jacket, walked behind 
 the hearse all the way to the cemetery, their 
 young faces very grave. And as they went, they 
 wondered sadly how soon they might have to 
 follow thus one who was much dearer to them. 
 The angel of death seemed to walk with them that 
 day, casting a dark shadow over all their lives. 
 
 For Bryan lay desperately ill, though the doc- 
 tors gave hope of his recovery. For two days he 
 remained unconscious, before he awakened to 
 weakness and pain. 
 
 But as the days and weeks went on he 
 gained slowly, and meantime, things were 
 happening things that bade fair to make pres- 
 ent realities of what to him had been dreams of 
 the far future. 
 
 The deep interest awakened by the publica- 
 tion of Perry's story of Bryan and his work, and 
 by Tom Brady's thrilling account of that night
 
 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 when fire and mob violence threatened Green 
 Tree House, had been intensified by the murder- 
 ous attack on Bryan and by the death of Jim. 
 Warm friends of Bryan had set to work with 
 determination to carry out his plans. Civic 
 workers, already interested in what had been 
 accomplished at Green Tree House both up- 
 stairs and down seeing now the opportunity for 
 changes that would mean great gain to the city, 
 threw all their interest into the movement, and 
 money was freely offered by men and women of 
 wealth. Boss Brady's power in his long-time 
 kingdom was unquestionably gone for ever, and 
 a new era had dawned for Sabin Street and the 
 old ninth ward. 
 
 Long before Theodore Bryan was able to leave 
 his room the good work was begun. The black- 
 ened ruins left by the fire were removed, and the 
 old disreputable houses on the adjoining square 
 were swept away ; for Teddy Marston's prophecy 
 was coming true, sooner than he had dared to 
 hope. There was to be a recreation park on old 
 Sabin Street, and the saloons were doomed not 
 one was to be allowed within four squares of 
 the park. 
 
 Bryan's shop, too, was to be at once rebuilt on 
 a larger and better plan, but it was still to re- 
 main just a shop, not a school, though various 
 lines of arts and crafts work were to be added, 
 as time went on, and the demand was made for 
 them. 
 
 All this Bryan, as he crept slowly back to
 
 RESULTS OF THE CRUSADE 325 
 
 health and vigour, learned from his friends, and 
 from the boys who began to come by twos and 
 threes to see him, as soon as doctor and nurse 
 permitted. There was great rejoicing among the 
 boys when, at last, they dared to believe that he 
 was really going to get well and be with them 
 again. They all came to see him, but Tony 
 Trudo was the first to bring him a gift a 
 bookrack like the one he had made for Tommy 
 O'Brien. Bryan's thanks were few and brief 
 he knew the boy too well to venture more but 
 his eyes said what his lips left unsaid, and Tony 
 was very quick. He understood. After that 
 the boys brought all sorts of offerings, until 
 Mrs. Knowles declared that Bryan would have 
 to get a cabinet to hold them all. 
 
 One day, when Marston came to sit a while 
 with his friend, Bryan pointed to a hammer ly- 
 ing on the table beside his couch. 
 
 " Tony brought it back to-day. I was sure 
 he would, some time." 
 
 " What did he say about it ? " Marston en- 
 quired curiously. 
 
 " Nothing. He just laid it down there, look- 
 ing me straight in the eyes. I understood, and 
 he knew that no words were needed. 
 
 " Poor chap ! " was Marston's gentle comment. 
 
 When Theodore was well enough to travel, 
 his friend carried him off to the Marston sum- 
 mer home on the Maine coast ; and there he spent 
 four quiet, happy weeks. It was the first real 
 resting time he had ever had, and perhaps be-
 
 326 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 cause, at first, he was too weak to do otherwise, 
 he gave himself up to the full enjoyment of it, 
 and health and strength came swiftly back to 
 him. But at the end of a month, the spell was 
 broken, and no persuasions could induce him to 
 prolong his stay. 
 
 " You've given me the happiest month of my 
 life, dear old fellow," he said to Marston, " but 
 now I'm well and strong again. My boys are 
 calling me, and I must go." 
 
 It was the day after his departure that Marston 
 and his cousin were on the lake, in the late 
 afternoon, when the western sky was a-flame 
 with crimson and gold. Teddy's practised hand 
 sent the light canoe swiftly and smoothly over 
 the quiet water, while the girl sat silent, her 
 dark eyes dreamily watching the brilliant pageant 
 of the sky, and its scarcely less vivid reflection in 
 the mirror-like surface of the lake. 
 
 For a time neither seemed inclined to talk, but 
 after a while Marston stopped paddling and let 
 the canoe drift idly on the golden water. Then, 
 half to himself, he said, " Strange, how I do miss 
 that fellow!" 
 
 Marjorie flashed a swift glance at him, but 
 answered nothing, and after a moment her 
 cousin went on, " You don't know, Marjie, 
 how hard I found it to decide not to go back 
 and work with him this fall." 
 
 " You have decided, then ? " 
 
 " Yes. Father needs me, not only in the busi- 
 ness, but at home. I can see that he isn't as
 
 RESULTS OF THE CRUSADE 327 
 
 strong as he was a year or two ago, and his claim 
 comes first." 
 
 She nodded : then she said slowly, " Bryan will 
 miss you very much." 
 
 " I'd be sorry to think he wouldn't miss me 
 a little, but he'll have plenty of helpers now," 
 Marston returned. Then, with a searching 
 glance, "How about you, Marjorie? Are you 
 going again to Helm House or to Mother 
 Knowles?" 
 
 Marjorie shook her head slowly. " I think 
 not if you are not going back." 
 
 "Had enough of settlement work?" Mar- 
 ston's tone was light, but his eyes still studied 
 the pretty face, over which a little flush was 
 creeping. An earnest, serious face it was as the 
 answer came. 
 
 " No, Teddy, I've grown to love the work. I 
 see now what a wonderful and beautiful thing 
 it is to help to uplift and brighten human lives, 
 but I can't go back now." 
 
 Then again for several minutes they watched 
 the changing tints in the sky before Marston 
 said slowly, " Marjorie, there is something that 
 I think I ought to tell you." 
 
 She looked up at him quickly, her dark eyes 
 widening in half-startled wonder as he went on, 
 " Perhaps you know it already. Perhaps if you 
 do not, you'd rather not know it, but I can't 
 keep it to myself any longer for Theodore's 
 sake, I can't. You remember that when he was 
 hurt I helped to take care of him, I sat up with
 
 328 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 him several nights, and the first night he was 
 delirious and talked incessantly. Marjorie, I 
 learned then what I had guessed before that 
 he loves you. But he will never tell you so. It 
 is because I am sure of that, that I am saying 
 this to you. It seemed to me that you had a 
 right to know." 
 
 " Why are you so sure of that that he will 
 never tell me, if it is so ? " 
 
 " Because of a talk I had with him a long 
 time ago, about marriage. He said then that 
 he could never ask any girl to marry him, when 
 he has not even a name that he is sure belongs 
 to him. You know he always has taken it for 
 granted that his parents were of the lowest 
 that there is bad blood in his veins and so he 
 feels that he has no right to ask any girl to be 
 his wife. I never can believe that about his 
 parentage, I mean. If it is true, then heredity 
 counts for very little." 
 
 Marjorie pointed to a lily lifting its pure white 
 chalice above the glimmering, golden water. 
 " That springs from the mud," she said, her 
 voice very low, but there was a proud light in 
 her eyes, and a little smile hovered about the 
 corners of her lips as she added, " Thank you, 
 Teddy, for telling me, but I knew it before." 
 
 " You did ! But he has not told you ? " 
 
 The girl shook her head, smiling gravely 
 now. "Not in words, Teddy, and he does not 
 know that he has told me in any way." A 
 quiver swept over her face as she recalled the
 
 RESULTS OF THE CRUSADE 329 
 
 look in Theodore Bryan's eyes as he spoke to 
 her on that terrible night when she stood by his 
 side in the glare of the burning building. 
 
 Her cousin was watching her curiously, but 
 with a swift change of look and tone she spoke, 
 " We must go back now, Teddy. Your father 
 will be waiting for us," and he understood th'at 
 no more was to be said. 
 
 All the way back she was silent, but once, as 
 he turned to speak to her, he saw that the 
 radiance in her eyes rivalled the glow of the 
 sunset, and he turned away again, leaving his 
 word unuttered. 
 
 It was one evening, about a month later, that 
 Theodore Bryan turned out the lights in the 
 shop, after the last of the boys had gone. 
 Then he went into the fire room and, 
 throwing a fresh log on the fire, dropped 
 wearily into a chair before it. It had been 
 a peculiarly hard day, and he missed his 
 friend missed the pleasant companionship es- 
 pecially at this hour. His thoughts went back, 
 as they had done so many times, to those happy 
 days beside the sea, and he wondered what 
 Teddy was doing now. Then suddenly he 
 heard footsteps on the stairs, and he lifted his 
 head, listening intently. It was not the heavy 
 step of Mrs. Knowles, nor the brisk clattering 
 rush of Elizabeth, and who else ? 
 
 The fire blazed out, flooding the room with 
 light, and he started up, staring incredulously,
 
 330 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 as Marjorie Armstrong came swiftly towards 
 him out of the shadows of the stairway. 
 
 "You?" he cried, "you!" and he caught 
 both her hands in his, holding them close, but 
 only for an instant; the next, he had himself in 
 hand again, and his tone was just the old 
 friendly one of the past year, as he asked her to 
 be seated while he lighted the gas. 
 
 " No, please," she pleaded, " put on another 
 log instead I like the firelight best," and then, 
 very low, she added, " I have something to 
 say to you, but I can't say it unless you sit 
 down." 
 
 " But let me get you a chair first." 
 
 " No " she shook her head " I must have my 
 own way this time, or else I can't say it. Sit 
 down here just as you were, please." 
 
 With a great bewildering, unbelievable hope 
 growing in his heart, he obeyed. Then Mar- 
 jorie slipped around behind him and put her 
 two hands on his shoulders. 
 
 " Are you going to make me say it all 
 Theo ? " she whispered very low.
 
 EPILOGUE 
 
 THERE came a day when, extending for 
 four squares beyond Green Tree House, 
 there was a place green and pleasant, if 
 not yet shady, because the trees were small the 
 place of which Theodore Bryan had so often 
 dreamed where tired mothers could bring their 
 little children and sit on comfortable benches, 
 while their babies rolled on the grass and their 
 bigger babies burrowed in a sandheap a place 
 where growing boys could bathe, and swim, and 
 climb, and exercise, and play ball to their hearts' 
 content, and their sisters could have equal privi- 
 leges a place where young men and women 
 could dance, or sit and walk together in safe, 
 and clean, and quiet ways. 
 
 And near by were two " Neighbourhood " 
 houses, one for women and one for men, 
 where provision was made for other needs of 
 mind and body cheap, good food, clean, inter- 
 esting reading matter, cheerful amusements, or 
 just quiet rest. 
 
 But even these things were not all that had 
 come from the " crusade " in the old ninth ward, 
 for long rows of old rookeries on neighbouring 
 streets had been bought by men and women of 
 wealth, and were to be pulled down and re- 
 331
 
 332 THEODORE BRYAN 
 
 placed by model tenements, where decent and 
 comfortable living would be possible. All this 
 meant a mighty change for the better in that 
 entire section of the city. 
 
 But the home at No. 40 Sabin Street Green 
 Tree House that remains unaltered, and still 
 Mother Knowles goes on her quiet way, keep- 
 ing a bright, cheery home, where all her neigh- 
 bours are ever sure of a welcome, and of warm 
 sympathy and help in their time of trouble. 
 And many a growing girl is there learning how 
 to make for herself and others, in the years to 
 come, a home like this how to cook, and sew, 
 and clean and how to " love up," as well as 
 bring up, little children. Many are the lives 
 that this one good woman is touching, many the 
 feet she is gently guiding into safe and happy 
 life paths, many the souls in which, under her 
 gentle touch, the great Image is growing clearer 
 and brighter day by day. As Theodore Bryan is 
 moulding the " men of to-morrow," so she is 
 training those who will be mothers of men in 
 the days that are yet to be. 
 
 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
 
 A 000126822 6