are more than welcome," she replied,
thinking, as she looked into the bright, handsome face, "He wants to
please me now, but perhaps it will grow into a higher motive."

Jim was quite in earnest when he said this. Three months in the Good
Neighbors Club had somewhat changed his point of view. He might still
be inconsiderate and thoughtless, but he no longer defended himself by
saying that every fellow must look out for himself.

The friendship of little John Armstrong was doing much for him. A
strong liking had sprung up between the two, rather to the surprise of
everybody. From the first John showed a decided preference for Jim,
who was so big and strong and capable, everything he himself was not;
and in the same way the helpless weakness of the invalid made its
appeal to the boy who in all his life had never been ill.

Certainly Miss Brown was right when she said that the silver keys
could open a door of pleasure to the lame boy.

The children could not guess the happiness their companionship gave
him. He listened with eager interest to all they told him of their
life at home and at school, and when they were gone he lived it over
again in imagination. He cherished a secret desire to belong to the
Order, but would not have mentioned it for the world, for how could he
help? He wrote the motto in his note-book, and then for weeks spent
all his spare time copying it on parchment in letters taken from an
old English missal, one of his father's treasures, drawing and
coloring them with greatest care. When it was done it was really
beautiful, and Jim, who was in the secret, had it nicely framed and
presented it, as we know, at the next meeting of the Order.

But John wanted to be a real helper. He thought about it a great deal,
but everything was done for him; there seemed to be no chance.

One day he noticed a lot of magazines which his father had been
looking over, and left lying on the floor when he was suddenly called
away. They belonged on the lower shelves of the bookcase, and it
occurred to him that he might replace them. He rolled his chair over
to that side of the room, and with a good deal of effort put them
back in order on the shelves. Then when Dr. Armstrong thanked his wife
that evening for putting them away, and she answered that she had not
even seen them, John had the great delight of surprising them. It sent
him to bed with a happy heart. However, next day he began to doubt
whether so small a thing