the line his overcharged spirit responded to the warmth of their
reception of him--Stephen and Rosamond, Louis and Ruth and young Ted,
smiling at him, saying the kindest things to him, making him one of them
as only those can who are blessed with understanding natures. To be
sure, it was all more or less confused in his memory, when he tried to
recall it afterward, but enough of it remained vivid to assure him that
it had been all he could have asked or hoped--and that it was far, far
more than he deserved!

"The boy bears up pretty well, eh?" observed old Matthew Kendrick to his
lifelong friend, Judge Calvin Gray, as the two stood aside, having gone
through their own part in the greeting of the bridal pair. Mr.
Kendrick's hand was still tingling with the wringing grip of his
grandson's; his heart was warm with the remembrance of the way Richard's
brilliant eyes had looked into his as he had said, low in the old man's
ear--"I'm not less yours, grandfather--and she's yours, too." Roberta
had put both arms about his neck, whispering: "Indeed I am, dear
grandfather--if you'll have me." Well, it had been happiness enough,
and it was good to watch them as they went on with their joyous task,
knowing that he had a large share in their lives, and would continue to
have it.

"Bears up? I should say he did. He looks as if he could assist in
steadying the world upon the shoulders of old Atlas," answered Judge
Gray happily. "It's a trying position for any man, and some of them only
just escape looking craven."

"The man who could stand beside that young woman and look craven would
deserve to be hamstrung," was the other's verdict. "Cal, she's enough to
turn an old man's head; we can't wonder that a young one's is swimming.
And the best of it is that it isn't all looks, it's real beauty to the
core. She's rich in the qualities that stand wear in a wearing
world--and her goodness isn't the sort that will ever pall on her
husband. She'll keep him guessing to the end of time, but the answer
will always give him fresh delight in her."

"You analyze her well," admitted Roberta's uncle. "But that's to be
expected of a man who's been a pastmaster all his life in understanding
and dealing with human nature."

"When it was not too near me, Cal. When it came to the dearest thing
I had in the world, I made a mistake with it. It was only when the boy
came under this roof that he received the stimulus that has made him
what he is. That wa