u--you are happy?"

"Yes." In the sympathetic atmosphere which this young girl's presence
created for him, Joe's emotions flowed into words more freely than ever
before in the company of a human being. Though he was answering her,
what he was really doing was rather just letting his heart use its
long-silent voice, speak its exultant dream and belief.

"Somewhere out in the world--I don't know where, and I don't want to
know--my daughter has now grown into a wholesome, splendid young woman!"
he said in a vibrant voice. Brooding in solitude so long upon his
careful plan that he believed could not fail, had made the keen Joe
Ellison less suspicious concerning it than he otherwise would have
been--perhaps had made him a bit daffy on this one subject. "I have
saved my daughter from all the grime she might have known, and which
might have soiled her, and even pulled her down if I hadn't thought
out in good time my plan to protect her. And of course I am happy!" he
exulted. "I have done the best thing that it was possible for me to
do, the thing which I wanted most to do! Instead of what she might have
been, I have as a daughter just such a nice girl as you are--just about
your own age--though, of course, she hasn't your money, your social
position, and naturally not quite the advantages you have had. Of course
I'm happy!"

"You're--you're sure she's all that?"

Again his words were as much a statement aloud to himself of his
constant dream as they were a direct answer to Maggie. "Of course! There
was enough money--the plan was in the hands of a friend who knew how
to handle such a thing--she's never known anything but the very best
surroundings--and until she was fourteen I had regular reports on how
wonderfully she was progressing. You see my friend had had her legally
adopted by a splendid family, so there's no doubt about everything being
for the best."

"And you"--Maggie drove herself on--"don't you ever want to see her?"

"Of course I do. But at the very beginning I fixed things so I could
not; so that I would not even know where she is. Removed temptation from
myself, you see. Don't you see the possible results if I should try to
see her? Something might happen that would bring out the truth, and that
would ruin her happiness, her career. Don't you see?"

His gray eyes, bright with his great dream, were fixed intently upon
Maggie; and yet she felt that they were gazing far beyond her at some
other girl... at hi