h it would come soon. I'm afeared of gettin'
frightened."

And the voice trembled away into a little sob.

They lay there side by side that long restless night. The other
lodgers, rough degraded men and women, crowded into the room, but no one
heeded the little bed in the dark corner, where the big boy lay with his
arm round the little uneasy sufferer. There was little sleep either for
patient or nurse. Every few minutes the boy begged for water, which
Reginald held to his lips, and when after a time the thirst ceased and
only the pain remained, nothing soothed and tranquillised him so much as
the repetition time after time of his favourite stories from the
wonderful book, which, happily, Reginald now knew almost by heart.

So the night passed. Before daylight the lodgers one by one rose and
left the place, and when about half-past seven light struggled once more
in between the rafters these two were alone.

The boy seemed a little revived, and sipped some milk which Reginald had
darted out to procure.

But the pain and the fever returned twofold as the day wore on, and even
to Reginald's unpractised eye it was evident the boy's release was not
far distant.

"Gov'nor," said the boy once, with his mind apparently wandering back
over old days, "what's the meaning of `Jesus Christ's sake, Amen,' what
comes at the end of that there prayer you taught me at the office--is He
the same one that's in the _Pilgrim_ book?"

"Yes, old boy; would you like to hear about Him?"

"I would so," said the boy, eagerly.

And that afternoon, as the shadows darkened and the fleeting ray of the
sun crossed the floor of their room, Love lay and heard the old, old
story told in simple broken words. He had heard of it before, but till
now he had never heeded it. Yet it seemed to him more wonderful even
than _Robinson Crusoe_ or the _Pilgrim's Progress_. Now and then he
broke in with some comment or criticism, or even one of his old familiar
tirades against the enemies of his new hero. The room grew darker, and
still Reginald went on. When at last the light had all gone, the boy's
hand stole outside the blanket and sought that of his protector, and
held it till the story came to an end.

Then he seemed to drop into a fitful sleep, and Reginald, with the hand
still on his, sat motionless, listening to the hard breathing, and
living over in thought the days since Heaven in mercy joined his life to
that of his little friend.