true. I
shall never cease to thank the Lord that I knew you two."

The Salvationists shook hands earnestly with him, and promised to pray
for him, and then he turned to the children:

"Good-bye, Dicky, I shan't forget the songs you've sung. I'll hear them
sometimes when I get over there in battle, and they'll help to keep me
true."

But Dicky, not content with a hand shake swarmed up the leg and back of
his tall friend as if he had been a tree, and whispered in a loud
confidential child-whisper:

"I'm a goin' to pray fer you, too, Cap'n Hawley. God bless you!"

The grown-up phrases on the childish lips amused Ruth. She watched the
little boy as he lifted his beautiful serious face to the responsive look
of the stranger, and marvelled. Here was no parrot-like repetition of
word she had heard oft repeated by his elders; the boy was talking a
native tongue, and speaking of things that were real to him. There was no
assumption of godliness nor conceit, no holier-than-thou smirk about the
child. It was all sincere, as a boy would promise to speak to his own
father about a friend's need. It touched Ruth and tears sprang to her
eyes.

All the doubts she had had about the respectability of the place had
vanished long ago. There might be all kinds of people coming and going,
but there was a holy influence here which made it a refuge for anyone,
and she felt quite safe about sleeping in the great barn-like room so
open. It was as if they had happened on some saint's abode and been made
welcome in their extremity.

Presently, one by one the inmates of the rooms came in and retired. Then
the cots were brought out and set up, little simple affairs of canvas and
steel rods, put together in a twinkling, and very inviting to the two
weary women after the long day. The cheery proprietor called out, "Mrs.
Brown, haven't you an extra blanket in your room?" and a pleasant voice
responded promptly, "Yes, do you want it?"

"Throw it over then, please. A couple of ladies hadn't any place to go.
Anybody else got one?"

A great gray blanket came flying over the top of the partition, and down
the line another voice called: "I have one I don't need!" and a white
blanket with pink stripes followed, both caught by the Salvationist, and
spread upon the little cots. Then the lights were turned out one by one
and there in the shelter of the tall piano, curtained by the darkness the
two lay down.

Ruth was so interested in it all and so fi