o numb to feeling. But now a storm shook
him.

"Dare, it's better for him--and Mel too," said Blair, with a hand
going to his friend's shoulder. "That idea never occurred to me until
day before yesterday when I ran into Mel. She looked--Oh, I can't tell
you how. But I got that strange impression."

"Did--did she ask about me?" queried Lane, hoarsely, as he uncovered
his face, and sat back.

"She certainly did," replied Blair, warmly. "And I lied like a
trooper. I didn't know where you were or how you were, but I pretended
you were O.K."

"And then--" asked Lane, breathlessly.

"She said, 'Tell Daren I must see him.' I promised and set out to find
you. I was pretty lucky to run into you.... And now, old sport, let me
get personal, will you?"

"Go as far as you like," replied Lane, in muffled voice.

"Well, I think Mel loves you," went on Blair, in hurried softness. "I
always thought so--even when we were kids. And now I know it.... And
Lord! Dare you just ought to see her now. She's lovely. And she's
your wife."

"What if she is--both lovely--and my wife?" queried Lane, bitterly.

"If I were you I'd go to her. I'd sure let her take care of me....
Dare, the way you're living is horrible. I have a home, such as it is.
My room is warm and clean, and I can stay in it. But you--Dare, it
hurts me to see you--as you are----"

"No!" interrupted Lane, passionately. The temptation Blair suggested
was not to be borne.

Lane met Blair the next afternoon at the station, and again on the
next. That established a habit in which both found much comfort and
some happiness. Thereafter they met every day at the same hour. Often
for long they sat silent, each occupied with his own thoughts.
Occasionally Blair would bring a package which contained food he had
ransacked from the larder at home. Together they would fall upon it
like two schoolboys. But what Lane was most grateful for was just
Blair's presence.

It was distressing then, after these meetings had extended over a
period of two weeks, to be confronted one afternoon by a new station
agent who called Blair and Lane bums and ordered them out of the
place.

Blair raised his crutch to knock the man down. But Lane intercepted
it, and got his friend out of the station. It was late afternoon with
the sun going down over the hill across the railroad yards. Blair
stood a moment bare-headed, with the light on his handsome haggard
face. How frail he seemed--too frail of body