IG HER o treet I .T.THURSTON 34 9 B - 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