hat I 'd do better alongside of
you. I 'd help you around the office. I 'd feel better, just to see
you. Anyway, would you be willing to try me for a while until I sort
of get my bearings?"

"I like the idea," answered Donaldson. "Let 's talk it over later.
You see there's a chance that I may give up law."

"Give it up?"

"I may have to leave this part of the country--for good."

"Why, man," burst out Arsdale, "you wouldn't leave Elaine?"

The silence grew ominous. The fighting spirit rose in Arsdale at the
suggestion.

"You would n't leave Elaine?" he demanded again, turning towards the
form on the bed which looked strangely huddled up.

"I must leave her with you," answered Donaldson unsteadily. The boy
scarcely recognized the voice, but it roused him to a danger which he
felt without understanding.

"Why, man dear," he exclaimed, "what would I count to Elaine with you
gone? Don't you know? Have n't you seen?"

They were the identical words Donaldson had used in trying to open
Arsdale's eyes to another great truth. And Donaldson knew that if they
cut half as deep into the boy as they now cut into him they had left
their mark. He found no answer. He listened with his breath coming as
heavily as the boy's breath had come when they had stood before the
open window.

Arsdale faltered for words.

"Why--why Elaine loves you!" he blurted out.

"Don't!"

So, too, the boy had exclaimed.

"Don't you know? I thought you knew everything, Donaldson! I don't
see how you help seeing that. But I suppose it's because you 're so
thoughtful of others that you can't see your own joys. But it's true,
Donaldson. I don't suppose I ought to tell you about it, but man, man,
she loves you! Give me your hand, Donaldson."

He found it in the dark, hot and dry.

"I want to tell you how glad I am. I suppose I must be a sort of
father to her now, and I tell you that I would n't give her to another
man in the world but you. You 're the only one worthy of her."

He pressed the big hand.

"You 're the one man who can make her happy," he ran on. "You can give
her some of the things she 's been cheated out of. Why, when I was
talking to her last night, her face looked like an angel's as I spoke
of you. It is you who makes it easier for her to forget all the
past--even--even the blow. I knew what it was when I came home--that
you 'd done even that for me--though she couldn't see it. You 've
blotted out of